History of the Flight
On 27 June 2019, four people, including three pilots and an instructor, departed Dunkerque Les Moeres aerodrome for pleasure flights. They flew to Morlaix Ploujean, then Quiberon, and headed to Île d’Yeu under VFR. During the approach to runway 14 at Île d’Yeu, after the pilot selected landing gear DOWN, the nose gear green light remained off and the red "Warning gear unsafe" light illuminated. The instructor contacted the AFIS officer, who confirmed all three gear were extended visually. The instructor then performed an emergency gear extension procedure from memory, resulting in three green lights. The aircraft landed without incident.
The next day, at about 14:20, while taxiing for runway 32 for a flight to Saint-Nazaire Montoir, the red warning light and aural warning activated intermittently. During take-off, the instructor pulled on the control column simultaneously with the pilot after noticing the nose drop. He released the column to avoid a stall. The aircraft became airborne briefly, then slid down the runway with the gear retracted, coming to rest about 560 m from the threshold. The aircraft was severely damaged.
Additional Information
Aircraft Information
The Piper PA28 RT-201T, registration F-GMSE, was built in 1981. Its landing gear is hydraulically operated via an electric pump controlled by a selector switch. Three green lights confirm gear extension and locking via limit switches. A microswitch activates a warning when gear is unsafe. A service bulletin (SB866/A) addressed an auto-extension system, which was removed from F-GMSE, indicated by a metal tag under the selector switch.
After the 27 June flight, the instructor sent photos of the nose gear to the maintenance workshop; a limit switch failure was considered possible. No maintenance was available at Île d’Yeu, so flights continued with the gear extended.
Standard Procedures
The POH and club checklists did not require checking the landing gear selector switch before flight. The club's "Before landing" checklist only specified "Gear... down 3 greens."
Emergency Extension Procedure
The POH procedure for emergency gear extension includes: check battery ON, check circuit breakers, turn off lights, test green lights, reduce speed below 88 kt, move selector DOWN, hold EMERGENCY DOWN lever until three greens. The club's procedure differed slightly (use flaps 1, speed 85 kt).
Pilot Information
The pilot in the left seat held a PPL(A) with about 300 flight hours.
Instructor Information
The instructor held multiple ratings including FI(A) and had about 9,150 flight hours, with significant experience in gear failure simulations on the Socata TB20. He stated that during the emergency extension on 27 June, he most likely tripped the circuit breaker first, then interrupted to instruct the pilot to climb, and subsequently activated the EMERGENCY DOWN lever without moving the selector to DOWN. After the accident, he found the selector in UP and the circuit breaker engaged. He did not know when the circuit breaker was re-engaged after 27 June.
Meteorological Conditions
At the time of the accident, wind was 310° at 7-10 kt, visibility >10 km, cloud ceiling 500 ft. At Saint-Nazaire Montoir, conditions were CAVOK.