What happened
On 31 August 2014, a Cvjetkovic CA-65 Skyfly, registration G-CFVJ, was conducting a private flight from Chavenage Airfield in Gloucestershire. Following takeoff, the pilot proceeded to retract the landing gear. In this specific aircraft model, the retraction process requires moving the undercarriage lever to the up position and then manually engaging a ratchet handle.
During the flight, the pilot observed that the selector lever on the undercarriage ratchet handle had become disconnected from its mechanism. The lever subsequently fell beneath the aircraft floor, making it impossible to reach or manipulate while in flight. Consequently, the pilot was unable to extend the landing gear for the return to the airfield. To manage the situation, the pilot flew for a period to reduce the aircraft's weight by burning fuel before performing a landing on the grass strip with the gear retracted. The pilot was uninjured, and the aircraft sustained damage to the propeller, pitot head, right aileron mass balance arm, belly flap, and a small area of the left wingtip skin.