What happened
On September 13, 2014, a Neiva EMB-810D, registration PT-RSN, was performing a private flight from Santa Fé de Goiás to Goiânia, Brazil. The aircraft was carrying two pilots and two passengers. During the landing phase at Santa Genoveva Airport (SBGO), the landing gear retracted immediately after the aircraft touched down on runway 14. This caused the aircraft to slide 450 meters along the asphalt, with the central fuselage dragging on the runway before the aircraft veered off the left side of the pavement into a grassy area. All four occupants escaped the incident uninjured, though the aircraft sustained light damage.
The investigation
CENIPA investigators conducted a mechanical examination of the aircraft's hydraulic and landing gear systems. The aircraft was suspended by jacks, and the landing gear underwent six full extension and retraction cycles. The tests confirmed that the hydraulic pump, the landing gear selector, the up/down indicators, and the nose gear door mechanisms were all functioning normally. No mechanical failures, broken actuators, or malfunctions in the locking hooks or struts were identified. Furthermore, the investigation reviewed radio communications between the pilot and the Goiânia Tower, as well as airport security footage. While the pilot reported that the gear was down and locked during the final approach, the security footage provided strong indications that the gear was actually in a retracted or partially retracted state very close to the runway surface at the moment of touchdown.
Findings
- The landing gear system was mechanically sound, with no evidence of simultaneous or spontaneous unlocking of the main or nose gear.
- Friction marks on the interior of the nose gear doors indicated they were open during the landing, suggesting a command to extend the gear was made.
- The most likely cause of the accident was that the pilot failed to extend the landing gear during the final approach, or performed the command too late in the landing sequence.
- It is possible that the pilot's verbal confirmation to the tower that the gear was down and locked was a procedural error rather than a reflection of the actual gear state.
- The cockpit's audible warning horn, designed to alert the crew if the gear is retracted during low power settings, may have been unnoticed due to high workload and intense focus on other flight parameters during the final approach.