What happened
The pilot reported that the left main landing gear collapsed during the takeoff roll. The incident occurred when the airplane was traveling at approximately 70 miles per hour. Following the collapse, the left wing made contact with the ground surface. The aircraft then veered off the runway and eventually came to a stop.
The investigation
A postaccident examination and testing were performed on the landing gear system. During a retraction test, the landing gear functioned properly. No mechanical abnormalities were revealed during this inspection.
Findings
The collapse of the left main landing gear was the primary event leading to the runway excursion. The postaccident testing indicated that the landing gear mechanism itself operated correctly during the retraction test, suggesting the failure occurred under load rather than due to a simple mechanical malfunction in the retraction cycle.