Kalitta Charters B722 at Tuscaloosa on Jan 28th 2019, nose gear collapse on landing
Last Update: March 16, 2020 / 23:15:15 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jan 28, 2019
Classification
Accident
Airline
Kalitta Charters
Flight number
K9-720
Departure
Laredo, United States
Destination
Tuscaloosa, United States
Aircraft Registration
N720CK
Aircraft Type
Boeing 727-200
ICAO Type Designator
B722
There are reports around on social media identifying N724CK, which performed the earlier flight K9-724 from Laredo to Tuscaloosa landing at 19:05L (01:05Z Jan 29th) on runway 04 as the accident aircraft (which however would have prevented the later flight to land).
On Nov 6th 2019 the NTSB released their preliminary report stating that the winds were coming from 200 degrees at 4 knots, the crew opted to land on runway 04. The NTSB described the sequence of events:
According to the flight crew, about 12 miles from the airport the captain (60, ATPL, 23,700 hours total, 6,800 hours on type) called for flaps 15 and gear down. After the gear was selected down, the CVR recorded the first officer (46, ATPL, 1,850 hours total, 105 hours on type) stating, "yeah it's down, but [unintelligble] the lights [unintelligble]"
The crew reported that they noted a red warning light for the nose gear position, and heard the audible gear warning horn. The CVR recorded the captain queried, "what horn was that?" and the first officer (FO) responded, "[unintelligible] gear warning horn."
The flight engineer (FE) stated that he recommended that they recycle the gear, the captain declined. The FO stated that he recommended that they go around to troubleshoot, the captain declined. The CVR recorded multiple automated "sink rate, pull up" warnings and the captain responded, "yeah, yeah, I got it." The FO then queried, "you gonna go around?", and the captain responded, "ah I'm gonna go… I got, it, I got it."
The captain reportedly stated that the airplane had a history of a microswitch issue, and pressed on the gear handle and light. As the power was reduced to idle, the gear warning horn and the GPWS audible alerts sounded. The captain stated in an interview that he asked for the gear to be recycled, and also that he smelled smoke and did not want to delay. Neither the FO, FE, or non-revenue mechanic, reported these items, nor were any of these items audible on the CVR.
The captain continued the approach and after landing, upon derotation, the forward fuselage contacted the runway and the airplane quickly slid to a stop with the nose gear retracted. After the airplane came to a stop, the captain stated, "it wasn't down," and the FO made a radio call to tower. About five seconds later the FO stated, "shoulda gone around," and the captain responded, "yeah, shoulda."
On Mar 16th 2020 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was: "the captain's decision to continue the landing with an unsafe gear indication."
Related NOTAMs:
TCL 01/031 TCL RWY 04/22 CLSD 1901290342-1901300330
!TCL 09/030 TCL RWY 04 ALS OUT OF SERVICE 1809201829-1901312000EST
!TCL 01/030 TCL AD AP CLSD 1901290240-1901300240
No weather data are available for Tuscaloosa.
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jan 28, 2019
Classification
Accident
Airline
Kalitta Charters
Flight number
K9-720
Departure
Laredo, United States
Destination
Tuscaloosa, United States
Aircraft Registration
N720CK
Aircraft Type
Boeing 727-200
ICAO Type Designator
B722
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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