Flight Summary
On July 5, 2022, at approximately 18:45 UTC, a Piper PA-34-200T aircraft, registration LV-JHQ, operated as a general aviation flight, sustained substantial damage during landing at Aeródromo Batán in Buenos Aires Province. The aircraft was owned by Kiefernwald S.A. and was crewed by a single private pilot with two passengers on board. No injuries were reported among the three occupants.
Sequence of Events
According to the pilot's account, after completing pre-flight checks, the aircraft departed from runway 04 at Batán. During the retraction of the landing gear following takeoff, the red indicator light—signifying that the gear was in transit and not locked—remained illuminated. The pilot attempted multiple cycles of raising and lowering the landing gear without success. After approximately 15 minutes of flight, the pilot decided to return to the departure aerodrome.
On landing, the nose wheel collapsed upon contact with the runway. The aircraft's nose dragged along the surface for roughly 100 meters before coming to a stop on the left side of the runway. The fuselage, engines, and propellers sustained damage.
Investigation Findings
A visual inspection of the nose landing gear revealed several damaged components. A part that serves as a stop for the nose wheel steering was found deformed. The spherical bearing, which travels along a guide when the nose gear extends or retracts, was observed to be out of its guide, and the bolt that held it was bent. Additionally, after manually unlocking and lowering the nose gear, the end stop of the guide was found damaged.
Following the accident, the aircraft was moved to San Fernando Airport, where investigators from the Junta de Seguridad en el Transporte (JST), in coordination with an approved repair station, conducted multiple functional tests of the landing gear system. The tests involved several cycles of raising and lowering the gear to assess its operation.
Damage
The accident resulted in substantial damage to the aircraft, specifically to the fuselage, both engines, and propellers. The extent of damage was classified as "de importancia" (substantial) in the official report.