Piper PA-46-310P Gear-Up Landing at Lake Havasu City Airport (N712MK)

Incident Overview and Flight Details On June 2, 2011, at approximately 1300 mountain standard time, a Piper PA-46-310P with registration N712MK experienced a landing gear extension system failure while on approach to Lake Havasu City Airport in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The aircraft sustained substantial damage after sliding to a stop on the runway. The flight, operated under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, was a personal flight that originated from Portland, Oregon, at approximately 0830. The aircraft was registered to Sea Air Holdings, LLC. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight plan had been filed. Neither the airline transport pilot nor the passenger was injured. ## Pilot Actions and Emergency Procedures The pilot reported that he was descending into the traffic pattern after canceling his IFR clearance when he attempted to lower the landing gear, but received no response. He reset the landing gear circuit breaker and attempted the procedure again without success. Following the emergency checklist, he attempted to drop the gear manually, but again there was no response. The pilot continued to repeat all procedures for approximately 1.5 hours until reaching minimum fuel, at which point he was forced to land gear up. Prior to landing, he located his passenger in the right rear seat, secured all cabin items, feathered and shut down the engine, and secured all electrical and fuel controls. The aircraft touched down at mid-field and slid approximately 1,200 feet. ## Post-Accident Examination and Findings Examination of the airframe revealed that a lower fuselage bulkhead was ground down. Following recovery from the runway, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness inspector examined the landing gear system. The aircraft was placed on jacks and supplied with electrical power. Both the normal and emergency extension landing gear systems failed to operate. The landing gear was eventually lowered by bleeding pressure out of the gear up line fitting on the nose gear sequence valve. The Emergency Gear Release valve, P/N 85124-02, was manually operated at the valve, but its control arm would only move 1/4-inch instead of the approximately 2 inches of movement required. The valve would not port fluid from the gear down line to the gear up line, which is its required function to allow hydraulic fluid to return through the up line to the reservoir and allow gravity to extend the gear. The cause of the failure of the normal gear extension system was traced to a faulty low pressure switch.