What happened
On the morning of June 18, 2007, a Hawker Beechcraft Corporation 1900D, registered as ZK-EAK, was performing an approach to land at Wellington. During the descent, the flight crew discovered that the landing gear would not extend. Following the failure, the two-pilot crew executed a missed approach and attempted to deploy the gear using both standard and emergency procedures.
When these efforts failed to bring the gear down, the crew decided to divert the flight to Woodbourne. The aircraft subsequently performed a wheels-up landing. While the impact resulted in moderate damage to the airframe, there were no injuries reported among the 15 passengers or the crew.
The investigation
Investigators focused on the mechanical failure of the landing gear deployment system. The inquiry established that a fatigue crack had developed within the hydraulic actuator responsible for the right main landing gear. This structural failure caused a loss of hydraulic fluid, which rendered both the normal and emergency gear-extension systems inoperable.
Findings
- A fatigue crack in the right main landing gear's hydraulic actuator led to a loss of hydraulic pressure.
- The loss of fluid prevented the successful deployment of the landing gear via all available methods.
- The failure of the hydraulic quantity low-level sensor to properly indicate the fluid loss was also a contributing factor to the situation.