What happened
On 20 December 2014, a Cessna T210L, registration N2257S, was conducting a private delivery flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Sao Paulo, Brasil. The flight plan included a scheduled stop at Providenciales Airport in the Turks and Caicos Islands for refueling.
During the approach to the airfield, the aircraft touched down with its landing gear in the retracted position. The aircraft subsequently slid along the runway on its fuselage for approximately 100 feet. The pilot reported that the failure to extend the landing gear occurred due to an oversight prior to touchdown. There were no injuries to the pilot, and the aircraft sustained damage to the propeller and the lower section of the fuselage.
The investigation
The investigation was based on the aircraft accident report submitted by the pilot. Investigators examined the sequence of events leading to the touchdown and the state of the aircraft's systems. A specific point of inquiry was the status of the cockpit audio warning system, which is designed to alert the crew if the throttle is reduced to a low setting while the landing gear remains unextended and unlocked. At the time of the investigation, it remained unconfirmed whether this warning system was functioning correctly.