BE36 pilot reports failure of landing gear to extend during approach. Attempts at manual extension are also unsuccessful and a gear up landing ensues. Nearby airport traffic areas may have been inadvertently entered during troubleshooting.

Date: 2011-01 · Aircraft: Bonanza 36 · Phase: landing

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|ground-event-encounter-gear-up-landing

Synopsis

BE36 pilot reports failure of landing gear to extend during approach. Attempts at manual extension are also unsuccessful and a gear up landing ensues. Nearby airport traffic areas may have been inadvertently entered during troubleshooting.

Narrative

On approach to land I put landing gear handle down. I noticed that gear down lights had not illuminated and gear motor circuit breaker had popped. [I] circled general airport area trying to correct problem. I completed the manual gear extension procedure from the aircraft handbook. I was unable to manually extend the landing gear due to the handle being unmovable when engaged. While maneuvering I may have entered AFB and civilian airport airspace inadvertently. While maneuvering I may have been lower than required altitude above the downtown area. I landed the aircraft with no indication that landing gear was extended. The aircraft settled on its belly while landing. Manual gear extension of the gear on jackstand revealed the same outcome. The gear would not extend and the manual gear extension handle while engaged would not move in either direction. FAA was asked to inspect aircraft. As of this writing FAA has not verified that that would happen. ATC Tower was very helpful. It would have been good information to have ATC Tower suggest an area to maneuver that would keep us out of the way of their traffic and other airspace but would keep us relatively close to runway.

NASA callback

Reporter stated although no definitive cause has been discovered for the gear malfunction; the system is purely mechanical and a failure inside the gear box is suspected. The gear box input is from an electric motor on one side and from a manual crank on the other side. Since the gear motor circuit breaker was found tripped it is suspected by the reporter that the gear motor continued to run after gear retraction due to failure of an up limit switch which caused the gear box failure before the circuit breaker tripped.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.