One of Parks College’s two Cessna 310s (C-310) airplanes was involved in an incident last Friday afternoon, Feb. 2 at Parks Airport in Cahokia, Ill.
According to Parks College Dean Charles Kirkpatrick, the C-310’s main (left) landing gear collapsed upon landing during a dual instructional flight. All three lights-indicating that the gear was functioning properly-were on, but the airplane dropped more than normal, alerting the flight instructor and student pilot. Both were uninjured.
The C-310, a twin-engine airplane built in 1978, has more than 7,000 hours of flight time. This is the third incident involving the exact same airplane within the past three years. Each incident was caused by failure of a different component of the landing gear assembly.
“We’ve had problems with this landing gear before,” Kirkpatrick said. “In general, training is hard on the equipment.”
Parks College has projected a purchase of five new Piper Seminoles for July to replace both C-310s and three other airplanes. “[The C-310] is one of five that we plan to sell following the delivery of our new Piper Seminoles this July,” Kirkpatrick stated. “Therefore, due to the anticipated downtime-should we decide to repair the airplane-I’ve asked our flight department to investigate options of disposing of the airplane that make financial sense.”
Inspection of the C-310 by airport personnel and an insurance company continues. With the loss of one C-310, Kirkpatrick said that approximately 25 students are impacted in terms of schedules and training flights.
Alternatives are being considered as to how to fill the gap caused by the damaged landing gear. The use of the other C-310 will not increase.
Information on the number of students in this course of training, their graduation dates and other factors are currently being gathered.
“It may be necessary to consider acquiring a plane on a short-term basis to meet the needs of the students,” Kirkpatrick stated.
“Our greatest concern is for the students whose training will be adversely impacted by the unavailability of this plane,” he added This gives graduating seniors the highest priority.
