Accident Details
On July 7, 2014, at 1726 central daylight time, a Cessna TR182, registration N4602S, experienced a landing gear collapse while landing at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport (ICT) in Wichita, Kansas. The airplane was substantially damaged. Both pilots aboard were uninjured. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91 as an instructional flight, with visual meteorological conditions present. The local flight originated from ICT at 1659 and was not operating on a flight plan.
Preflight and Takeoff
The airplane had been purchased about 30 minutes before the flight by N&M Aviation LLC, a company owned by the pilot and another individual. As part of an insurance requirement, the pilot was to receive a checkout from a flight instructor before flying the airplane. The flight instructor met three individuals in the lobby of a fixed base operator at ICT, including the pilot and the previous owner, who explained that the insurance company required a familiarization flight with an instructor.
The pilot conducted a preflight inspection with the previous owner and reported that everything was normal, including the engine start and run-up. During the initial climb, the pilot retracted the landing gear. The "green down" light extinguished, but the amber "gear up" light did not illuminate. The right main and nose landing gears remained extended, and the sound of the gear motor continued without stopping.
Emergency Procedures and Approach
The pilot performed the emergency procedures for a gear failure to retract, but they were ineffective. Attempts to manually pressurize the hydraulic system and apply positive g-loading through abrupt maneuvers did not lock the gear down. The pilot then executed an approach for landing on runway 19L (7,301 feet by 150 feet, grooved concrete) using a soft field technique. During the approach, air traffic control advised that the right main landing gear did not "look quite right," and another pilot holding short of the runway reported that the left main landing gear "really looked bad."
Landing and Collapse
Shortly after touchdown, the left main landing gear began to collapse. The airplane yawed to the right, causing the left wing to drop. The impact damaged the left horizontal stabilizer and elevator, the bottom of the empennage, and the left wing tip.
Examination and Maintenance History
An examination by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector found that a hydraulic line (part number 52889-4-0102, superseded by part number 53465-3-0102) attached to the forward left side of the actuator was twisted and ruptured. The hydraulic fluid that leaked from the hose emptied the hydraulic power pack reservoir.
The pilot reported that the most recent maintenance on the airplane was a repair to the nose gear landing strut actuating mechanism, which had a minor hydraulic leak. The last maintenance on the landing gear system was performed by Edwards Jet Center in Billings, Montana, on July 2, 2014, at a tachometer time of 30.63 hours. The logbook entry stated: "Removed nose landing gear actuator and cleaned. Installed new packings in actuator and installed actuator on aircraft. Safetied hardware as required. Serviced hydraulic power pack with hydraulic fluid. Cycled gear multiple times to purge air from system. Serviced hydraulic power pack again. Ops check and leak check good."
At the time of the accident, the airplane's tachometer read 38.07 hours, and the airframe total time was 3,157.5 hours.