What happened
On 21 January 2006, a Beech 1900 C, registered as 3D-BEE, was conducting an international mercy flight from Maputo International Aerodrome in Mozambique to Lanseria International Aerodrome in South Africa. The flight was transporting two pilots, two paramedics, a patient with a fractured hip, and the patient's spouse.
Upon arriving at Lanseria, the pilot executed a standard landing on Runway 06L. While the crew was applying reverse thrust to decelerate, the pilot not flying noticed that the left-hand main landing gear indication had changed, with the down-and-locked light extinguishing and the red unsafe warning light illuminating. As the aircraft continued its roll, the left wing began to drop. Despite efforts to maintain the aircraft's path, the crew ordered an engine shutdown, and the aircraft veered off the runway onto the adjacent grass area.
There were 0 fatalities and 0 injuries among the passengers and crew. However, the aircraft suffered significant damage to the left-hand engine, propeller, landing gear doors, and both the inboard and outboard flaps, as well as damage to the left-hand main landing gear.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the mechanical failure of the landing gear assembly during the landing roll. Investigators reviewed the aircraft's maintenance history, noting that the most recent phase inspection had been completed on 27 March 2005, with 186 airframe hours accumulated since that inspection.