Seven Accidents Involving Centurions

Some days it's probably best to stay in the hangar... and such was the case Thursday, when the Cessna 210 Centurion, as a type, had an unusually rotten day in the skies over the United States. The good news, however, is that out of seven accidents involving C210s of varying vintages... only one accident resulted in injuries of any kind.

That accident -- as Aero-News reported in a separate article -- resulted in only minor burns for pilot Anthony Diamond, and his two passengers. Their plane was destroyed in a post-impact fire after the plane came to a stop in trees after an attempted go-around, following a bounced landing.

A somewhat surprising four accidents involved gear-up landings. Of those, at least two were related to mechanical problems, according to FAA preliminary reports. One C210 landed with its nose gear extended -- but the maingear tucked up -- in Las Vegas, NV; and another pilot landed gear up after he experienced engine trouble at about 300 ft AGL following takeoff from Chico Municipal Airport in CA.

Engine trouble also appears to be behind the forced ditching of a 210 in northern California. After the engine lost power enroute to Redding, the pilot executed a water landing into the Keswick Reservior of the Sacramento River. The pilot was able to escape and swim for shore as the aircraft sunk to the bottom.

The seventh accident occurred in Albuquerque, NM, when the aircraft flipped over on a taxiway after departing the runway after landing. The weather report listed winds at the time of the accident as variable from 060, with gusts as high as 38 knots. Not very friendly conditions for a high-winged plane.

Besides the fact all the planes were 210s, from the FAA reports it appears the only other common trait among these accidents would be bad luck. But even bad luck may be too strong a term here... after all, again, there were no serious injuries in these accidents.

That would seem to be a strong testimony to the resilence of the hundreds of 210s that are still flying today.... as well as one reason the type remains popular today, 20 years after the last new airframe was produced.

FMI: Read The FAA Preliminary Reports