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ANC88IA013 · Cessna 402B

26 Oct 1987 · Cordova, AK, United States

Cessna 402B · Incident: main gear collapsed during landing

From Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) to Merle K (Mudhole) Smith Airport (CDV)

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Event

NTSB case
ANC88IA013
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Incident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Charter & commuter
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Cessna 402B

Aircraft type
Cessna 402
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N5718M
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC), Anchorage, AKTo Merle K (Mudhole) Smith Airport (CDV), Cordova, AK
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Landing · landing roll
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Main gear collapsed
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Minor

Cause areas

  • Company maintenance personnel › Gear pin, improper
  • Landing gear, main gear strut scissors › Disconnected
  • Other maintenance personnel › Acft/equip, inadequate compliance determination

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE COMPANY MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL WERE AWARE OF A SHIMMY PROBLEM BUT THEY THOUGHT IS WAS ONLY WORN BUSHINGS. THE MAINTENANCE PEOPLE STATED THEY INSPECTED THE PART BUT FOUND NO PROBLEM. THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND ALSO STATED HE FOUND NO PROBLEM UPON VISUALLY INSPECTING THE ASSEMBLY JUST PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT. THE RECORDS DO NOT INDICATE A LANDING GEAR CHANGE, HOWEVER, THE WRONG PART WAS INSTALLED AS OUTLINED IN THE PARTS MANUAL. FURTHERMORE, AN UNCERTIFICATED ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR OF MAINTENANCE RELEASED THE AIRPLANE WITHOUT HAVING A QUALIFIED MECHANIC INSPECT THE GEAR. THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND ACCEPTED THE AIRPLANE WITH A KNOWN DEFICIENCY AND DID NOT ENTER THE DISCREPANCY UNTIL AFTER THE INCIDENT. THE LEFT MAIN LNDG GEAR COLLAPSED DURING LANDING. THE GEAR HAD 'WOBBLED' DURING TAXI AT ANCHORAGE. THE PLT AND A BAGGAGE HANDLER HAD INSPECTED THE GEAR AND FOUND NOTHING OUT OF ORDER. THE PLT TELEPHONED CO MAINTENANCE AND THE CO GEN MGR SAID THE CO WAS AWARE OF THE SHIMMY PROBLEM AND TO TAKE THE FLT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ANC88IA013
Event ID
20001213X32225
Case number
ANC88IA013
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 8cc34db4fb55f0266e4a275a2c177f993c4a17e8b27b44bea04a46be0c48346a; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:36:23.067Z.