Socata TB20 F-GMQF gear-up landing during training exercise at Nîmes Garons

Flight details and accident description On 1 December 2015 at 12:05 local time, a Socata TB20 registered F-GMQF, operated by a flight school, was conducting a general aviation flight. The pilot and an instructor were aboard. The aircraft departed Montpellier Méditerranée for a proficiency maintenance flight and proceeded to Nîmes Garons, where it performed a reconnaissance circuit. The crew then carried out a series of training exercises involving reduced power and two touch-and-go landings, first with flaps set to 10° and then to 0°. As the wind increased, the instructor proposed two additional reduced-power exercises. During the first, the pilot was asked to extend the flaps to 10° and the landing gear at the start of the exercise. During the second, the pilot extended the flaps to 10° and identified and announced the landing-gear-not-extended warning, but did not extend the gear because he was listening to the instructor’s explanations on trajectory and speed management in the wind. The pilot then focused on the trajectory and omitted the pre-landing checklist on final approach. When the aircraft touched down, the pilot and instructor realized the gear had not been extended. The aircraft was heavily damaged.