What happened
The pilot was conducting a cross-country flight when he encountered an issue with the landing gear retraction mechanism. He diverted to an airport to seek maintenance assistance, where a mechanic inspected the gear while the aircraft was on jacks. Following the inspection, no mechanical anomalies were found, and the aircraft was returned to service.
After refueling the Cessna (type not specified in source) for 5.5 hours of flight time, the pilot continued toward his destination. Approximately four hours later, during arrival in low-light conditions, the pilot moved the landing gear handle to the down position but did not receive a down-and-locked indication in the cockpit. After several unsuccessful attempts to manually lower the gear and 1.5 hours of circling the airport, the pilot realized the aircraft was reaching a low fuel state. Due to darkness and the inability to activate runway lights, the pilot performed a precautionary landing.
The Cessna landed short of the approach end of the runway, causing the nose and main landing gear to be sheared off. There were no injuries reported.
The investigation
A Safety Board investigator-in-charge and an FAA airworthiness inspector examined the landing gear system. Using an ohmmeter and the aircraft's wiring diagram, investigators determined that the nose landing gear limit switch contained an intermittent fault in the normally closed circuit position. According to the manufacturer, such a fault prevents the landing gear motor from completing either the up or down cycle.