What happened
The aircraft was operating a Part 135 scheduled domestic passenger flight when the incident occurred during the final approach phase. The pilot noticed that the nose landing gear had failed to fully extend. In an effort to resolve the issue, the pilot cycled the landing gear controls, but the system again failed to achieve full extension. Following this unsuccessful attempt, the pilot activated the emergency gear extension procedure. Despite these efforts, the landing gear did not deploy correctly.
The approach was continued to touchdown. Upon contact with the runway, the entire landing gear assembly collapsed. The aircraft slid along the runway surface before coming to a complete stop. All passengers were safely evacuated from the aircraft using the emergency exits.
The investigation
Post-incident examination of the aircraft revealed that the right main landing gear actuator end cap had failed. This failure was attributed to fatigue, which allowed hydraulic pressure and fluid to leak from the system, preventing proper gear operation.