Beech 95-B55 accident near Forest, Mississippi, May 30, 2003
On May 30, 2003 at about 8:45 pm local time, a Beech 95-B55, registered N258P, was substantially damaged in an accident near Forest, Mississippi (G. V. Montgomery airport). It was a personal flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 2 people were 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 pilot-in-command to extend the landing gear, or use the checklist while on landing approach, resulting in a gear up landing.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 4, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- May 30, 2003 · about 8:45 pm local time
- Place
- Forest, Mississippi · G. V. Montgomery · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 2 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Beech 95-B55 · all 95-B55s on the register
- Registration
- N258P · registry record · serial TC-2414
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
According to the pilot when he started turning base leg he began noticing that the plane was not slowing down like it should and he decided to lower to full flaps. This still "did not alert" him to the fact that the gear was not down. When he turned to final he increased the speed, to about 1OO knots all the way down to short final. He held 15 inches of manifold pressure up until the flair. At the time of flair he reduced the power to idle, and immediately the landing gear warning horn started sounding. He said his mind "was stuck on airspeed," he "immediately" thought it was the stall warning horn, and lowered the nose a little. He leveled the wings, held the airplane off the runway, and bled off airspeed. When the airplane finally touched down, about half way down the runway the "grinding" sound started, and he realized the landing gear was retracted. An inspection of the cockpit showed the landing gear handle in the "up position." The on scene investigation revealed that the airplane had slid on its belly for over 1,000 feet. The pilot, was at the scene and immediately reported to the FAA inspector, "...that he had forgot to put the landing gear down." He further stated he had a checklist but "did not use it." The airplane received substantial damage to the bottom fuselage; to the extent several ribs were ground completely through the thickness of the metal.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: private
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land; instrument: airplane; rotorcraft: helicopter
- Flight time: 1,833 hours in all; 600 in this make and model; 5 in the last 90 days; 1 in the last 30 days
- Medical certificate: Class 3
The aircraft
- Maximum gross weight: 5,100 lb
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine: Continental IO-460L (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: M11 Crystal Springs MS
- Destination: Forest MS
- Flight plan: not recorded
- Runway 16
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Temperature: 0°F (-18°C), dew point 0°F (-18°C)
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 | |||
| Passengers | 1 |
Other NTSB records under N258P the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database: the narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words, and the coded tables behind its report (pilot, aircraft, flight, weather, injuries, sequence of events) are written out in plain English. Pilots' ages, home towns and medical details are left out on purpose. The docket at the NTSB holds the report as a PDF and the investigation's photographs and documents. 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 MIA03CA117.