Primary finding
Probable cause
Failure by the pilot in command to follow procedures and retrim the stabilizer for landing.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
On returning to land, following dropping a load of skydivers, the pilot failed to reset the stabilizer trim and ran out of elevator during the flare for landing. A hard landing occurred and the left main landing gear collapsed causing substantial damage to the underside of the fuselage.
Source record
Factual narrative
On August 26, 1997, at 1510 mountain daylight time, a Fairchild Heli Porter, N354F, sustained substantial damage during a hard landing at Gillette, Wyoming. The commercial pilot was not injured. The flight was being operated under Title 14 CFR Part 91 as a local area flight and no flight plan was filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. According to the pilot, he had dropped a load of sky divers and on return to land he forgot to retrim the stabilizer during approach and ran out of elevator control during the flare for landing. The landing was hard and the left main landing gear collapsed. The underside of the fuselage skin, ribs, and stringers sustained damage when the landing gear collapsed. The flight was operating at the race track complex in Gillette. -