WPR21LA261 · Beech 95-A55
Ace of Spades Aviation Beech 95-A55 · Accident: landing gear collapse
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR21LA261
- 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
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- 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
Beech 95-A55
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 55
- 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
- N764SU
- Operator
- Ace of Spades Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 59 years (built 1962)
- 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 · landing roll
- 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 oper/perf/capability
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The flight instructor of the multi-engine, retractable landing gear airplane reported that, shortly after touchdown, with the pilot receiving instruction at the flight controls, the pilot was simulating max braking, the airplane began to veer left. He announced, “easy on brakes and back on center line.” The airplane continued to veer left, he started to apply right pressure and stated, “my controls off off off.” He heard a sound similar to a flat tire, the left main landing gear collapsed, and the airplane exited the left side of the runway.
The pilot receiving instruction reported that when the airplane touched down, it immediately began to veer left. Despite multiple control inputs, the airplane continued to veer left. The flight instructor assumed the flight controls and continued to apply max right rudder. The left main landing gear began to chatter, then collapsed, and the airplane exited the left side of the runway.
Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that a large flat spot on the left main tire casing along with a large hole in the tire and tube. The left main landing gear actuator arm was found bent. It’s likely that during the landing roll, as a result of a side load imposed on the left main landing gear, the landing gear actuator arm was able to bend, which allowed for the landing gear to become unlocked and subsequently collapse.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left aileron and left wing.
The flight instructor and pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation, other than the flat tire.
Probable cause
The pilot’s inability to maintain directional control during landing roll due to a flat tire.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR21LA261
- Event ID
- 20210706103428
- Case number
- WPR21LA261
- 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, cause areas. 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: dbc328534f13b783552d9c0cfb00318ed71ec55df8e1514225fa10bf5ad1b2c1; retrieved 2026-09-16T14:15:43.501Z.