What happened
During an instrument landing system approach, the crew of a Piper Apache attempted to extend the landing gear following a practice engine shutdown and feathering of the left engine. Because the hydraulic pump is mounted on the left engine, the instructor was aware that manual extension would be necessary. The private pilot moved the landing gear lever to the down position and operated the gear pump; however, the instructor did not verify the lever's position. After pumping the handle between 10 and 20 times, the crew received no down-and-locked indication, and the selector handle failed to return to neutral.
While performing a 360-degree right turn at 500 feet above ground level as instructed by air traffic control, the instructor focused on maintaining aircraft control. Upon completing the turn, the instructor requested confirmation from the tower that the gear appeared down, to which the controller replied affirmatively. Just before the flare, an unidentified person radioed that the nose gear did not appear to be down. The instructor applied power, but the aircraft rolled to the left and impacted the ground. The aircraft veered off the runway and collided with a taxiway light, causing the landing gear to collapse. There were no fatalities reported in this incident.
The investigation
Post-accident examination of the Piper Apache revealed that the landing gear lever was positioned close to the neutral position rather than in the down position. Investigators found that the emergency landing gear system had been successfully extended into the down-and-locked position using the hand pump with no operational anomalies noted.