Belly Landing of a Piper PA-31T During a Training Flight at Charallave (YV2719)

Incident Overview and Aircraft Details On August 9, 2022, a Piper PA-31T, registration YV2719, operated by Inversiones Luribay C.A., departed from the Oscar Machado Zuloaga International Airport (SVCS) in Charallave, Miranda State, at 19:10 UTC. The aircraft, a 1978-built bimotor with retractable landing gear, was conducting a training flight involving touch-and-go maneuvers with simulated engine emergencies. ## Flight Sequence and Accident Approximately 50 minutes into the flight, at 20:02 UTC, the aircraft was executing a full landing with reduced power on the left engine. During the final approach, the student pilot set full flaps but failed to verify that the landing gear was down and locked. The aircraft landed on its belly, coming to rest on the runway and the grass safety zone to the south. The crew was unharmed, but the aircraft sustained significant damage. ## Crew and Maintenance The pilot in command, aged 60, held a valid Airline Transport Pilot license and Flight Instructor rating, with over 13,000 total flight hours. The first officer, aged 38, held a valid Airline Transport Pilot license with 4,700 total flight hours. Maintenance records indicated the aircraft was airworthy at the time of the incident, with the last preventive maintenance performed by Gold Jet Corporation C.A. ## Probable Cause and Contributing Factors The investigation determined that the primary causal factor was a loss of situational awareness during a critical phase of flight. The crew reported that they did not deploy the landing gear. A contributing factor was the presence of birds (zamuros) in the approach cone, which required the crew's attention to ensure separation from the fauna. This distraction led to an inadvertent omission in the checklist, resulting in the landing with the gear retracted.