What happened
On 29 January 2001, a Beech 76, registration G-OADY, was conducting a training flight at Leeds Bradford Airport. The flight involved an instructor and a student pilot, who was performing his second multi-engine operation and had no prior experience with retractable landing gear.
Following the completion of upper air work, the crew returned to the airfield circuit to perform a series of touch-and-go landings. The first three landings were conducted with full flaps, following a procedure where the student was instructed to retract the flaps during the ground roll before advancing power. However, during the fourth circuit, which was performed without flaps, the student pilot accidentally moved the gear lever to the up position while on the runway. This caused the nose gear to retract, resulting in the aircraft sliding for about 150 metres along the runway. The incident caused damage to the propellers and the underside of the forward fuselage, and the engines were shock loaded. There were no injuries to the two crew members.
The investigation
The AAIB investigation examined the cockpit configuration and the sequence of pilot actions. It was noted that the gear handle is positioned to the left of the throttle quadrant, while the flap handle is located to the right. The instructor observed that the gear lever requires very little movement to activate.
Investigators also looked into the function of the weight-on-wheels (squat) switches, which are intended to prevent gear retraction at speeds below approximately 59 to 63 kt. The instructor estimated the aircraft's speed at the time of the error was between 60 and 65 kt, which was sufficient to allow the retraction mechanism to function.
Findings
- The accident was caused by the inadvertent selection of the gear up position by the student pilot.
- The error likely resulted from a combination of the student's focus on retracting the flaps during the ground roll and a mental preoccupation with retracting the gear after takeoff.
- The aircraft speed during the ground roll was approximately 60 to 65 kt, which exceeded the threshold required for the squat switches to allow gear retraction.