Cessna T210N accident near San Angelo, Texas, August 20, 2006
On August 20, 2006 at about 7:15 pm local time, a Cessna T210N, registered N6602C, was substantially damaged in an accident near San Angelo, Texas. It was a personal flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
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The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The failure of the landing gear to extend as result of a frayed electrical wire.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made September 29, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- August 20, 2006 · about 7:15 pm local time
- Place
- San Angelo, Texas
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Cessna T210N · all T210Ns on the register
- Registration
- N6602C · registry record · serial 21063926
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The 1,461-hour instrument rated private pilot reported that while departing on an instrument flight, the landing gear selector handle was raised to the retracted position and he observed that the green lights (down indication) went out, but the amber lights (up indication) did not illuminate. The pilot added that he attempted to use the manual gear pump to no avail. The pilot continued on with his proposed flight plan and advised air traffic control of his situation. The pilot recycled the gear selector handle several times and was not able to get a gear up or gear down indication. The pilot stated on the pilot/operator report (NTSB form 6120.1) "I elected to continue my planned flight to burn off as much fuel as reasonable, get as close to my destination as possible, and to reach good VFR conditions." The pilot made two low passes to have the tower personnel attempt to determine if the landing gear appeared down. The tower noted that the left main and the nose gear appeared to be down but that the right main gear appeared to be partially retracted and rotated. The pilot elected to land on an the 5,939-foot long, by 150-foot wide asphalt runway, which was oriented on a heading of 030 degrees. The airplane remained upright and slid-off of the runway to the right side when the airplane slowed. The pilot egressed without assistance and was not injured. A Federal Aviation Administrator inspector, who responded to the accident site, reported that the right main landing gear had collapsed and there was structural damage to the right horizontal stabilizer and the rudder. His investigation revealed that a frayed wire on the landing gear squat-switch terminal prevented power to the relay switch that controlled the landing gear activation. The weather at the airport at the time of the accident was reported as winds from 080 degrees at 8 knots, temperature of 34 degrees Celsius, with an altimeter setting of 30.03 inches of Mercury.
The NTSB's narratives can run to many pages; this is the opening. Read the full report at the NTSB.
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database and is rewritten in plain English only where the NTSB used codes; the probable cause and narrative are the NTSB's own words. This site never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number DFW06CA201.