Incident Overview
An air taxi pilot reported that during a personal flight in a mountain pass, the weather began to deteriorate. The pilot, who was on his third flight of the day through the same pass, stated that he turned the airplane around in an attempt to exit the pass. However, the clouds had lowered to the extent that he could no longer see the exit. In response, he decided to make a precautionary landing on the tundra rather than continue the flight through the pass.
Landing and Damage
During the precautionary landing, the main landing gear separated from the airplane. The pilot elected to land on the tundra after losing visual reference of the pass exit due to lowering clouds. No further details about the aircraft or the pilot's condition were provided in the report.
Circumstances
The flight was conducted in a mountain pass, and the pilot noted that the weather had been deteriorating. The decision to land was made to avoid continuing under conditions where the exit was obscured. The main landing gear failure occurred during the landing sequence.