Landing Gear Retraction After Bounces Leads to Runway Belly Slide (N115GS)

Incident

An aircraft arriving from Lima experienced an unstabilized final approach to runway 07. The crew continued the approach despite the condition. Upon touchdown, the aircraft landed relatively hard and then bounced three times. During the bounces, the crew retracted the landing gear. The aircraft subsequently slid on its belly for approximately 600 meters before coming to rest. All nine occupants escaped uninjured; the aircraft sustained damage beyond repair.

Probable Cause

According to the official investigation, the probable cause of the accident was an erroneous retraction of the landing gear following three bounces on the runway, due to an unstabilized final approach and poor crew resource management. Contributing factors included:

• The descent and landing checklists were followed, but the crew did not review stabilized approach criteria or procedures for a possible controlled flight into terrain, and did not consider a go-around.
• Several call-outs were non-standard while others were missing.
• The descent continued under visual flight rules; the approach was unstabilized and not detected by the crew.
• Speed was too high on touchdown, and the power levers were not in the idle position.
• The crew took no corrective action when the aircraft bounced.
• A loss of situational awareness led to the retraction of the landing gear.