Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

On July 4, 2024, about 1030 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 414 airplane, N1652T, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at Lake County Airport (LXV), Leadville, Colorado. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
The pilot reported that the airplane’s brake system operated normally during the startup, taxi, and takeoff. The initial landing approach at the destination terminated in a go-around due to another airplane back-taxiing on the runway. The second approach was normal, and the airplane touched down about 1,500 ft from the runway threshold. He attempted to apply the brakes after touchdown; however, there was no pressure on the brake pedals and no braking was available. There was also no pressure available on the co-pilot’s brake pedals. The airplane rolled the length of the runway. The pilot attempted to turn onto the perpendicular taxiway at the end of the runway, but the airplane departed the pavement, and the nose landing gear collapsed. The nose landing gear trunnion and wheel well structure sustained substantial damage during the accident sequence.
An examination of the brake system revealed that the left brake master cylinder was nearly empty and no pressure from the brake pedal to the wheel caliper was available. The right brake master cylinder contained about 1/4-inch of fluid. Pressure to the wheel caliper was obtained with about three-quarter deflection of the brake pedal. The brake lines and calipers did not exhibit any evidence of leakage, and free movement of the caliper pistons was observed. Both the left and right brake linings exhibited minimal remaining thickness with signs of overheating.
Airplane maintenance records noted that the landing gear was worked on during the most recent annual inspection, which was completed about two months before the accident. The pilot reported that the airplane had flown about 40 hours since the inspection. The mechanic who conducted the annual inspection reported that the brakes were inspected and no anomalies were observed at that time. A loss of brake fluid for reasons that could not be determined, which resulted in a loss of braking effectiveness during landing.