What happened
During an air taxi cargo flight, the pilot reported that a loud noise occurred while retracting the landing gear. Following this noise, the 'unlocked' light for the landing gear remained illuminated in the cockpit.
In an effort to verify the status of the gear, the pilot flew the aircraft past the control tower at Holloman Air Force Base for a visual inspection. Personnel at the tower were able to confirm that the right landing gear did not appear to be in the locked-down position.
Upon attempting to land, the aircraft experienced a failure during the landing roll. The right main landing gear folded under the weight of the aircraft, causing the plane to swerve to the right. The aircraft eventually came to rest off the right side of the runway. There were no injuries reported in this incident.
The investigation
A post-accident investigation was conducted to determine the mechanical cause of the gear failure. Investigators discovered that the torque tube bracket assembly had failed, which directly resulted in a malfunction of the landing gear down lock assembly.