What happened
On October 17, 2014, a Piper PA28R-200, registration F-HFAD, was conducting a local training flight at the Cuers Pierrefeu aerodrome. During the landing phase, the aircraft struck the ground with its landing gear retracted. Upon impact, the crew heard the cockpit's audible warning indicating that the gear was up.
The investigation
Investigators examined the aircraft and found that the landing gear lever was in the down position, yet the gear remained retracted within the wheel wells. The gear doors showed no signs of deformation. When the aircraft was lifted, the gear stayed in its retracted position. A mechanic subsequently demonstrated that by moving the lever to the up position and cycling the system with the battery engaged, the gear extended and locked normally without any visible damage to the components.
The aircraft is equipped with both a red warning light and an audible alarm. This system is designed to trigger when the landing gear is up and locked while the engine power is low (below 14 inches of mercury) or when flaps are set greater than 10 degrees.
Maintenance records indicated that during the previous circuit, the pilot had elected to fly a low-altitude pattern after retracting the gear during the initial climb. In such patterns, the takeoff configuration (gear down, takeoff flaps) is typically maintained until the transition to the landing configuration (gear down, landing flaps) is required.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was the retraction of the landing gear prior to landing.
- This error likely occurred because the pilot either forgot to extend the gear during the landing preparation or accidentally retracted it during that phase of flight.
- High pilot workload may have led to inattentional deafness, preventing the crew from perceiving the audible warning alarm.
- The use of a pre-landing checklist serves as a critical safety barrier to prevent such configuration errors.