What happened
On 18 December 2002, a Piper PA-28RT-201 Cherokee Arrow IV, registration G-GHRW, was conducting a training flight at Cranfield Airport, Bedfordshire. The flight, intended for commercial pilot licence training including circuit practice, began after the crew retrieved the aircraft from a hangar. The aircraft had recently been under investigation for an intermittent 'gear unsafe' light issue that had previously remained unresolved by maintenance.
During the takeoff from Runway 04, the student pilot operated the controls while the instructor monitored the flight. Upon retracting the landing gear, the red 'gear unsafe' light remained illuminated. Subsequent attempts to cycle the gear lever resulted in the same abnormal indications: the nose and right main gear showed green 'locked' lights, but the left main gear failed to indicate it was down and locked. The instructor even attempted to use the alternate gear extension system, but the left gear indication remained unchanged.
Believing the issue was likely a faulty indicator rather than a mechanical failure, the instructor took control for the landing. Although air traffic control reported that the gear appeared visually down and locked during a flypast, the aircraft' and settled on the runway with the left wing positioned low. As the aircraft decelerated, the left main gear began to collapse. The aircraft's left wing struck the runway at a speed of approximately 20 to 30 knots, causing the plane to veer off the left side of the runway.
The investigation
Engineers examined the aircraft after the left wing was lifted during recovery. They discovered that the left main gear could be manually pulled into the locked position, though the process was difficult. While testing the gear in the hangar, no specific mechanical fault was identified that would prevent the gear from locking, although some stiffness was noted in the landing gear linkages. As a preventative measure, the left main gear was removed and several bushes were replaced. Following these repairs and a successful flight test, the gear and the alternate extension system operated correctly.