What happened
On December 1, 2015, a Socata TB20, registered F-GMQF, was conducting a proficiency maintenance flight from Montpellier Méditerranée. The flight, operated by a flight school, included a pilot and an instructor. After performing initial reconnaissance and several touch-and-go maneuvers at Nîmes Garons aerodrome, the instructor proposed two additional low-power training exercises due to increasing winds.
During the first exercise, the instructor instructed the pilot to extend the landing gear at the start of the maneuver. During the second exercise, the pilot extended the flaps to 10° but failed to extend the landing gear. Although the pilot identified and announced the landing gear warning alarm, they did not act upon it, choosing instead to focus on the instructor's guidance regarding airspeed and trajectory management in the wind. Consequently, the pilot neglected to perform the final approach checklist. Upon touchdown, the crew realized the gear remained retracted, resulting in heavy damage to the aircraft.
The investigation
The investigation examined the cockpit environment and the crew's actions during the training maneuvers. The pilot, who had 467 total flight hours, noted that they had become accustomed to the alarm during the repetitive nature of the exercises. The instructor, an experienced pilot with 8,770 total hours, stated that they were focused on guiding the pilot through the trajectory and had not performed a gear extension check during the final approach. The investigation also noted that the weather conditions were CAVOK with winds from 340° at 10 to 15 knots.