Incident
The airplane executed a wheels-up landing. The pilot reported that during the approach to land, he was unable to lower the landing gear. He then attempted to lower the gear using the emergency extension system. During these attempts, he noticed a smell of hydraulic fluid.
Examination
A postaccident inspection of the airplane found that a hydraulic hose attached to the nose gear door actuator had failed. This failure caused hydraulic fluid to leak from the landing gear retraction system. The emergency landing gear extension system is designed with a hand-actuated hydraulic pump to extend the landing gear.
Maintenance
The Cessna Service Manual requires that hydraulic hoses in the landing gear retraction system be inspected and replaced as necessary every five years or 1,000 hours of operation. Investigators reviewed the aircraft's logbook entries spanning the six years prior to the accident. No entry was found documenting the replacement of the failed hose.