ERA26LA136 · Cessna 551
SkyBlue Jet Aviation Cessna 551 · Accident: system/component malfunction/failure (non-power) on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA26LA136
- 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
- Ongoing
- 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
- 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
Cessna 551
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 551
- 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
- N228MH
- Operator
- SkyBlue Jet Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 46 years (built 1980)
- 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
- Approach
- 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
- System/component malfunction/failure (non-power)
- 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
No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
On March 4, 2026, about 1648 eastern standard time, a Cessna 551, N228MH, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Opa-locka, Florida. The two pilots and three passengers were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 post-maintenance test-flight.
The test-flight was conducted due to an avionics upgrade. The pilot-in-command (PIC) reported that the takeoff and enroute portion of the approximate 45-minute local instrument flight rules flight was uneventful. During the return to the departure airport, on an instrument landing system (ILS) approach, the PIC was flying and the second-in-command (SIC) extended the landing gear. The flight crew noted that the right main landing gear (RMLG) red cockpit indication light remained illuminated, and a warning horn sounded when full flap extension was selected. Additionally, the SIC could visually see from his seat that the RMLG was slightly misaligned.
The PIC performed a missed approach and received extended vectors for a second ILS approach to allow extra time to troubleshoot the anomaly. The flight crew performed the quick reference handbook (QRH) “Landing Gear Will Not Extend.” procedure, which included activation of the blow-down bottle, but the red landing gear indication light remained illuminated. The second ILS approach terminated in a low approach with tower personnel stating that the landing gear appeared extended. The PIC performed a go-around and a visual approach for landing. The flight crew confirmed that all QRH items were completed and landed on a runway with emergency vehicles standing by. During the landing, the left main landing gear touched down, and about 2 seconds later, the right main landing gear gradually collapsed. The airplane came to rest upright on the runway and sustained substantial damage to the right wing.
Several days later, following the airplane’s recovery to a hangar, an FAA inspector witnessed landing gear extension and retraction tests. Three tests were conducted. In each case, the nose landing gear and left main landing gear retracted and extended normally. The RMLG retracted normally but only extended to about a 45° position.
The RMLG actuator was retained for further examination.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA26LA136
- Event ID
- 20260305202603
- Case number
- ERA26LA136
- 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. 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: ca4c4d28797f14c333333d5d13182488a71ea5391e738c85900f3a4445c76f7e; retrieved 2026-09-16T20:55:21.831Z.