Ameriflight Beech 1900 C accident
Beech 1900 C · Accident: landing gear collapse
From Corpus Christi International Airport (CRP) to San Antonio International Airport (SAT)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN20LA175
- 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
- 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
Beech 1900 C
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 1900
- 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
- N31704
- Operator
- Ameriflight
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Corpus Christi International Airport (CRP), Corpus Christi, TXTo San Antonio International Airport (SAT), San Antonio, TX
- Aircraft age
- About 36 years (built 1984)
- 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
- 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
- Landing gear collapse
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During the cargo flight’s initial climb, the landing gear did not retract when the landing gear handle was raised. The pilot attempted to cycle the landing gear handle once more, which yielded the same result. Following the second unsuccessful gear retraction, the pilot elected to leave the landing gear handle in the DOWN position and continued to the destination.
Prior to landing the pilot completed the before landing checklist and noted three green lights and no red lights, which indicated the landing gear was down, locked, and safe for landing.
The airplane touched down on the runway and the left main landing gear collapsed, the red unsafe light in the landing gear handle illuminated and was followed by an aural horn indicating the landing gear was now unlocked and unsafe for landing. Simultaneously, the airplane began to dip toward the left, causing the left-wing tip to contact the runway. The airplane exited the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing.
A postaccident examination revealed that the left main landing gear upper drag leg arm fractured in bending and twisting overload. There was no evidence of preexisting cracking or corrosion. The dimensions of the part were consistent with the drawing and the chemical composition and microstructure were consistent with 7075 aluminum alloy, as required. The mechanical properties were lower, and the electrical conductivity was higher than the requirements for 7075-T6 aluminum alloy. The measured mechanical properties and electrical conductivity did not conform to any standard temper for 7075 aluminum alloy.
A review of the operator’s maintenance records revealed that several months prior to the accident, the left main landing gear drag brace assembly was replaced on the airplane because it was due for overhaul. The left main landing gear drag brace assembly installed was the unit removed after the accident. The drag brace assembly had been overhauled by the operator. Based on the paperwork, the overhaul work performed did not interfere with the mechanical properties of the upper drag leg arm.
The failure of the left main landing gear upper drag leg arm during the touchdown resulted in a collapse of the gear and the left wing’s subsequent contact with terrain. The failure of the upper drag arm was the result of substandard mechanical properties.
Probable cause
The failure of the left main landing gear upper drag leg arm due to substandard mechanical properties, which resulted in a collapse of the landing gear upon landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN20LA175
- Event ID
- 20200509X12228
- Case number
- CEN20LA175
- 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: local date, investigation status, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2020-05-09.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 29ce2792096ec86e09aff8b51d47912d5a4da7bea42707520381668de6e42276; retrieved 2026-09-16T11:34:32.255Z.