| Crash location | 37.988611°N, 120.112500°W
Reported location is a long distance from the NTSB's reported nearest city. This often means that the location has a typo, or is incorrect. |
| Nearest city | Madera, CA
36.961336°N, 120.060718°W 71.0 miles away |
| Tail number | N8648P |
|---|---|
| Accident date | 20 Sep 2012 |
| Aircraft type | Piper PA24 |
| Additional details: | None |
The accident occurred during an instructional flight while practicing landings. The flight instructor reported that he became distracted while teaching his student and forgot to ensure that the landing gear was extended before landing. He stated that the landing gear warning horn came on just before the airplane landed gear up, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage structure. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The student's and flight instructor’s failure to ensure that the landing gear was extended prior to landing.