2024 Mooney M20J gear-up landing at Pucón Aerodrome

Overview and occurrence details On 25 February 2024 at 12:02 local time, a Mooney Airplane Company, Inc. M20J landed with its landing gear retracted on runway 28 at Pucón Aerodrome (SCPC), Chile. The aircraft was operating a private flight from Villarrica Aerodrome (SCVI) to Pucón, with the intended purpose of picking up a passenger for onward transport to Corte Alto Aerodrome (SCPR) in Purranque. The pilot had planned to land as the second aircraft on runway 28, following a parachute aircraft that had just landed on the same runway. ## Aircraft and occupant The aircraft was a 1981 Mooney M20J, serial number 24-1165, with 4,199.78 hours of service. Its maximum takeoff weight was 2,740.00 pounds and its payload was 1,790.50 pounds. The pilot in command was a 69-year-old Chilean national holding a valid private pilot license for airplanes, single-engine land class, and was medically fit. The pilot had 1,735 hours 20 minutes of total flight time, 60 hours 03 minutes in the type, and 12 minutes on the day of the occurrence. ## Damage and post-occurrence findings The aircraft made contact with its belly and landing gear in the retracted position. The pilot was uninjured and exited the aircraft under his own power. Damage included worn lower fuselage coverings, a worn VHF antenna, worn flap fairings and flap coverings, a worn left-wing Pitot tube, worn landing-gear door coverings, and propeller blades disconnected from the hub with worn tips. The emergency locator transmitter did not activate because there was no abrupt deceleration. No fire traces were found. ## Investigation status At the time of the preliminary report, the investigation was awaiting technical information from the maintenance organization and reviewing records to determine the cause and any resulting recommendations. The landing-gear system was tested and lowered and locked normally, but the gear warning horn did not operate when the throttle was advanced. The landing-gear circuit breaker was found in the off position during the initial cockpit inspection.