Accident Details
On 25 September 2003 at 1702 UTC, a Beechcraft 58 Baron, registration N23659, was conducting a training flight for the re-validation of the commander's multi-engine rating and renewal of his instrument rating. The flight included approaches, go-arounds, general handling, and stalling. During the final landing at Alderney, Channel Islands, the aircraft touched down with the landing gear retracted and slid on the underside of the fuselage before coming to rest on the grass to the right of Runway 08. Both occupants, the commander and an examiner, were uninjured and exited via the main cockpit door.
Landing Gear Indications
The approach was planned with asymmetric power. ATC was informed that landing gear selection would be made late. At approximately 450 feet agl, the examiner commented that he could not see the three green DOWN and LOCKED indication lights. The commander had set the lights to DIM; when he switched to BRIGHT, both pilots confirmed three green lights. However, upon touchdown, the gear was retracted. The ATC controller, expecting late gear selection, had no time to warn the aircraft.
Post-Accident Examination
Airfield Fire Service personnel found the landing gear selector in the DOWN position. During recovery, the gear was lowered manually without difficulty. An engineer from a maintenance organization tested the landing gear and its warning horn extensively and confirmed normal operation. The landing gear indicator lights on this aircraft type are signaled from the electric motor output mechanism, not from microswitches on the gear. The warning light switch has three positions: DIM, BRIGHT, and TEST. The TEST position momentarily illuminates the red 'gear unsafe' light followed by all three green lights.
Examiner's Conclusion
The examiner concluded that it was possible that when the commander moved the switch from DIM to BRIGHT, the TEST position was inadvertently selected, thereby showing three green lights. Neither pilot recalled hearing the landing gear warning horn during the flight or final approach.