What happened
On April 6, 2013, a Tecnam P20 and 06T, registration I-TELT, was conducting a multi-engine piston (MEP) rating training flight at Catania Fontanarossa Airport. The flight, operated by a flying training organization, involved an instructor and a student pilot performing circuit patterns with touch-and-go maneuvers.
During the fourth circuit, air traffic control instructed the crew to extend the downwind leg to 5 nautical miles to allow another aircraft to depart. Due to this change in the flight pattern, the student pilot, who was flying the aircraft, performed only a partial execution of the "Before landing" checklist. Specifically, the crew deferred the extension and verification of the landing gear to a later phase of flight.
Upon approaching runway 08 for a touch-and-go, the aircraft landed with the landing gear in the retracted position. The aircraft slid approximately 170 meters along the runway before coming to a stop slightly left of the centerline. There were no injuries to the two occupants, and the aircraft sustained minor damage.
The investigation
The ANSV investigation focused on the crew's failure to complete the required checklists and the effectiveness of the cockpit warning systems. The investigators found that both the instructor and the student pilot admitted to omitting the landing gear check.
Furthermore, the investigation examined why the crew did not react to the landing gear warning siren. The crew stated they did not hear the acoustic alert because the sound, which is broadcast via cockpit speakers rather than directly through the headsets, was masked by engine noise and ambient cockpit sounds while wearing headsets. Post-incident testing confirmed that the warning is difficult to perceive through headsets during flight operations.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was human error, specifically the failure to complete the "Before landing" checklist as required by the Aircraft Flight Manual.
- The crew's decision to skip the gear extension check was influenced by the modified flight pattern requested by ATC.
- The cockpit's acoustic warning for the landing gear was not effectively audible to the pilots due to masking by engine noise and the use of headsets.