NetJets Aviation Cessna 560XL incident
Cessna 560XL · Incident during initial climb
From Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK) to Blue Grass Airport (LEX)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA13IA036
- 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
- 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
- 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 560XL
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 560
- 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
- N576QS
- Operator
- NetJets Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK), Nantucket, MATo Blue Grass Airport (LEX), Lexington, KY
- 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
- Initial climb
- Defining eventThe 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
- Miscellaneous/other
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Shortly after takeoff, a tower air traffic controller notified the flight crew that fuel was pouring from the left wing. The crew also noted hydraulic and flight control annunciator messages and a gear unlocked indication. The flight remained in the traffic pattern and the airplane landed with a fuel imbalance of about 1,000 pounds. An examination of the airplane after the incident revealed minor damage in the left wing and gear well areas. The left main gear aft trunnion pivot pin was not in place, resulting in separation of the aft portion of the left main gear trunnion from the aft trunnion fitting. The end of the aft trunnion punctured the interior of the gear well, resulting in damage to surrounding structure and damage to the fuel cell and hydraulic line. The damage resulted in the fuel leak and the flight control and hydraulic messages. The pin was later found loose and undamaged in the flap track area of the left wing. The aft trunnion pivot pin retaining bolt that was intended to restrain the pivot pin was in place and secured with a nut and cotter pin. A review of maintenance records for the airplane revealed that the left main gear trunnion was removed and replaced with a new unit about six weeks before the incident. The maintenance was performed by an outside vendor. According to the airplane maintenance manual, when installing the aft main landing gear trunnion, the trunnion pivot pin must be slid forward, aligning a hole in the trunnion with a hole in the pivot pin. The trunnion pivot pin is then secured in place with the retaining bolt, washers, nut, and cotter pin. It is likely that the incorrect installation of the left main gear aft trunnion allowed the aft trunnion pivot pin to eventually exit the trunnion and attach fitting. This allowed the aft trunnion to puncture the interior of the gear well.
Probable cause
The incorrect installation of the left main gear aft trunnion pivot pin by maintenance personnel, which resulted in separation of the aft portion of the left main gear trunnion from the aft trunnion fitting and minor damage to the airplane.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA13IA036
- Event ID
- 20121023X02243
- Case number
- ERA13IA036
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: f3bb7dae050dabde697ecb49e752e4890ecc936499c5691f2adae15e16497865; retrieved 2026-09-15T20:15:14.285Z.