What happened
On September 10, 1964, a Beechcraft D.95 Travelair, registered as HB-GBU, was involved in an accident at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. The aircraft was performing a local flight without any passengers on board. Upon completing the flight and touching down, the pilot accidentally engaged the landing gear selector.
This action caused the immediate unlocking of both the left main landing gear and the nose gear. As a result, the aircraft's structure failed to support the weight, causing the plane to come to a rest in a nose-down position with a significant leftward tilt.
The investigation
The investigation, which concluded following a report from Bureau Veritas in Paris, focused on the mechanical sequence following the pilot's interaction with the cockpit controls. The inquiry examined the movement of the landing gear components and the subsequent impact of the aircraft's weight on the runway.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was the inadvertent activation of the landing gear selector by the pilot.
- The mechanical consequence of this error was the simultaneous unlocking of the nose gear and the left main gear.
- The aircraft sustained severe damage during the incident, though the pilot escaped without injury.