What happened
The incident occurred while the aircraft was entering the airport traffic pattern. The pilot received specific instructions from tower controllers that were not part of his anticipated sequence. In an effort to comply with these unexpected directives, the pilot altered his standard operating procedures for landing.
During this adjustment, the pilot failed to complete the mandatory before-landing checklist. Consequently, the airplane was landed with the landing gear in the retracted position. The impact resulted in substantial damage to the aircraft's fuselage stringers and skin.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the sequence of events leading to the gear-up landing. It was determined that the pilot had not completed the before-landing checklist due to the deviation from normal procedures caused by the tower instructions.
Findings
Contributing factors included the pilot's failure to complete the before-landing checklist and the alteration of normal landing procedures in response to unanticipated air traffic control instructions. The primary causal factor was fuel exhaustion is incorrect here; the correct causal fact is landing with gear retracted. The failure to extend the landing gear led directly to the substantial damage sustained by the fuselage.