What happened
On 5 February 2005, a Piper PA-23-250 Aztec, registration N54211, was involved in an incident at Elstree Aerodrome, Hertfordshire, following a force-landing. After the aircraft had landed and the pilot had vacated the cockpit, efforts began to clear the runway to allow for subsequent operations.
During this recovery process, the pilot attempted to extend the nose landing gear by pulling on it with a rope. During this maneuver, the main landing gear collapsed, though the pilot narrowly avoided physical injury. Following this collapse, the aircraft was dragged by its nose gear toward a grassy area away from the taxiway. However, due to boggy ground conditions, the nose leg subsequently sank into the earth. In a further attempt to rotate the aircraft clear of the taxiway, a truck was attached to the aircraft's tail tie-down ring using a rope; during this process, the tie-down ring and the surrounding skin were torn from the airframe.
The investigation
The investigation established that the pilot felt pressured to assist in the recovery due to the desire of the fire crew to reopen the runway quickly and an unconfirmed report that another aircraft with low fuel was requesting priority landing. This pressure led the pilot to act without carefully considering the mechanics of the landing gear system.
Regarding the damage to the tail, the investigation clarified that the horizontal tail had been lowered by the weight of personnel sitting on it, rather than by the truck. The damage to the tie-down ring occurred specifically when the truck was used to pull the aircraft.