MIA06CA139 · Piper PA-23-250
Piper PA-23-250 · Accident: wheels up landing
From Boca Raton Airport (KBCT) to South Bimini Airport (MYBS)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA06CA139
- 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
- Accident
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- General aviation
- 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
Piper PA-23-250
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-23
- 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
- N428RM
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Boca Raton Airport (KBCT), Boca Raton, FLTo South Bimini Airport (MYBS), Bimini
- 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 91: General Aviation
- 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 · flare/touchdown
- 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
- Wheels up landing
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Unknown › Maintenance, installation, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that after takeoff, the landing gear remained extended based on sluggish airplane performance and also lack of indicator lights after attempting to retract the gear using the normal procedures. He attempted to cycle the landing gear and also attempted to extend the landing gear using the emergency hand pump and also by the emergency CO2 blow-down bottle; the results of both were unsuccessful. He further reported hydraulic fluid on the cockpit floor after using the emergency hand pump but postaccident examination of the airplane by the FAA revealed no hydraulic fluid leakage in the cockpit. The pilot was advised by air traffic control that the landing gear appeared retracted but the landing gear doors were open. The flight proceeded to another airport where the airplane was landed with the landing gear retracted. Postaccident examination of the airplane by the FAA revealed a loose B-nut of a flexible hydraulic hose at the nose landing gear actuator; the hydraulic reservoir of the power pack was empty. The hose was tightened, the reservoir was serviced, and the landing gear was cycled 3 times using the emergency hand pump. Misadjustment of the down lock switches for each main landing gear was noted though all gears were down and locked over center during gear extension. The pilot advised the FAA that before the accident, no work was performed to the landing gear, though records indicate the pilot purchased the flexible hydraulic hose that was found to have a loose B-nut. Additionally, in May 2006, and again in August 2006, the pilot requested from 2 separate individuals to check the landing gear. The pilot (not a certificated airframe mechanic), asked the one individual in May 2006 to assist him with a "Main Landing Gear retraction problem he couldn't solve." The pilot provided to the NTSB the name of the mechanic who removed and replaced the flexible hydraulic hose at the nose landing gear actuator which was found to have the loose B-nut. The mechanic (that the pilot stated had replaced the hydraulic hose) reported that he did not perform any work to the landing gear system. The maintenance records did not reflect, and no determination was made as to who removed and replaced the flexible hydraulic hose that was found to have the loose B-nut.
Probable cause
The inadequate installation of a flexible hydraulic hose at the nose landing gear actuator by an unknown person resulting in the total loss of hydraulic fluid, the inability of the pilot to extend the landing gear, and subsequent wheels-up landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA06CA139
- Event ID
- 20061205X01731
- Case number
- MIA06CA139
- 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, coordinates. 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: 9f76aed1b2a48128dcbac8b309259cff8202f6afddcbfdd9b3cb72918265a6a1; retrieved 2026-09-22T04:25:45.941Z.