Accident Overview
On April 5, 2023, at approximately 1500 Pacific daylight time, a Beech 95, registration N21RS, sustained substantial damage during a landing accident near Bremerton, Washington. The aircraft was operated as a personal flight under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The pilot, who was the sole occupant, was uninjured.
Pre-Flight Conditions
The airplane had been parked on a ramp under a tarpaulin for about one year prior to the accident flight. The flight in question was the first after a recently completed annual inspection.
Sequence of Events
The pilot reported that during the final approach for landing, the landing gear selector lever was in the down position, and the landing gear indicator light showed green, indicating the gear was down and locked. However, a few seconds after touchdown, the landing gear collapsed. After examining the damage, the pilot stated that he believed the landing gear had never extended.
Postaccident Examination
Immediately following the accident, an examination revealed that the landing gear did not extend when the gear selector lever was in the down position, even though the gear status light illuminated green. Additionally, the aural gear warning horn, which is designed to activate if the gear is retracted with the throttles at low engine power, was not audible.
Further inspection of the gear extension system identified that the landing gear down limit and down indicator switch, along with the interconnected warning horn switch, were stuck in the normally open (NO) position. This normally open condition caused a portion of the electrical circuit to falsely indicate a landing gear down and safe position, despite the gear being retracted. The NO condition also disabled the landing gear motor circuit and the landing gear warning horn circuit. In this state, the down and locked indicator required only the gear position switch to be selected to the down position to complete the circuit, resulting in a green light indication.
Restoration and Testing
After the switches were restored to normal operation, both the landing gear extension and the gear warning horn functioned normally.
Damage
The accident resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage at the lateral wing spar carry-through structure.