What happened
On August 29, 2018, a Piper PA-30, registration LV-IFR, departed from Morón Airport in Buenos Aires for a multi-engine flight training mission. The flight plan included a destination of Lobos Aerodrome and a subsequent return to the origin.
Upon arriving at Lobos, the crew performed two successful touch-and-go maneuvers. However, during the third attempt, the aircraft made contact with the grass runway with its landing gear in the retracted position. The impact caused significant damage to both propeller blades, but the aircraft remained intact, allowing the instructor and the student pilot to evacuate the cabin without injury. The aircraft came to a stop approximately 150 meters past the intersection with runway 10-28.
The investigation
The investigation focused on why the landing gear was not extended despite the aircraft's safety systems. Technical inspections confirmed that the landing gear mechanism was fully functional. Testing demonstrated that the amber warning light and the audible alarm both operated correctly when the engine power was reduced while the gear remained up. The investigation also confirmed that the pilots were wearing individual headsets at the time of the accident, which would have made the audible alarm perceptible.
Interviews revealed that the student pilot did not use the required pre-landing checklist during the final approach. Furthermore, the instructor stated that while he had verbally instructed the student to extend the gear during the initial side trip, he did not verify the action through a checklist. Neither pilot reported hearing the aural alarm or noticing the visual warning light during the final approach.
Findings
- The crew failed to utilize the pre-landing checklist to verify that all necessary configurations for landing had been completed.
- The pilots did not perceive the visual or audible warnings indicating that the landing gear was retracted.