FlightFollowerLanding Gear Failure Forced a Cessna 401 Into a Gear-Up Landing
The gear problem developed during a flight test
The Cessna 401, N3239Q, had not flown in about 25 years. After extensive maintenance and a fresh annual inspection, it went up for a Part 91 test flight at Arlington Municipal Airport in Texas on May 22, 2025. On the third circuit of the traffic pattern, the landing gear stopped working properly and the twin could no longer be set up for a normal landing.
The left gear system failed
The pilot later told the NTSB what he had found. The left main gear strut had over-extended and wedged itself into the wheel well, and the bell crank that drives the left main gear was broken. He thought the bell crank might have been damaged years earlier, in a previous gear-up landing in 1998. So there was a real mechanical failure behind the event, not a pilot who forgot to lower the wheels.
The runway was prepared with foam
The aircraft approached Arlington with its landing gear retracted. Airport emergency crews covered the runway with foam before touchdown. The Cessna then landed on the prepared surface at approximately 12:41–12:42 p.m. local time and slid to a stop. Two people were aboard and neither was injured.
A safe outcome did not mean no aircraft damage
The landing avoided injury but produced substantial damage to the lower fuselage. The event is therefore best classified as a non-fatal accident rather than a harmless precautionary landing. The combination of a documented gear-system failure, runway preparation and a controlled gear-up landing explains both the damage and the safe outcome.
The final NTSB record also establishes that the accident occurred during a flight test after extensive maintenance and an annual inspection. The left landing gear system failed, the pilot deliberately landed gear-up, and the lower fuselage sustained substantial damage. The two occupants nevertheless escaped injury.
The Landing-Gear Failure Was the Final Finding
The NTSB probable-cause finding states: ‘The failure of the left landing gear system and subsequent intentional gear up landing.’
Research and reconstruction
Flight Follower Editorial Team
This reconstruction was researched from official investigation records where they exist, the original air traffic control recording, and contemporary reporting. The aircraft movement, timeline and written account were assembled independently by Flight Follower. Where an investigation is open or no probable cause has been published, the account says so rather than offering one.
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- Aircraft
- Cessna 401 N3239Q
- Date
- 22 May 2025
- Location
- Arlington, Texas
- Category
- Non-fatal accident
Sources
- NTSB final report CEN25LA185: NTSB investigation report (CAROL, PDF)