The Cessna T310R pilot reported that during the landing roll of his second uneventful landing at San Luis Obispo, Calif., the right main landing gear started to shimmy. He slowed the plane and proceeded towards the nearest taxiway.
Before exiting the runway, he went to retract the flaps when he inadvertently raised the landing gear handle.
He quickly re-lowered the landing gear handle, however the right main landing gear had already started to retract.
The airplane veered to the right, exited the runway, and came to rest on the grass. The right wing was substantially damaged.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the pilot’s inadvertent action of retracting the landing gear instead of the flaps during the landing roll, which resulted in the right main landing gear collapsing.
NTSB Identification: WPR13CA413
This August 2013 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Well I have never flown a Baron. I do know that in the Cessna 300 series the weak point is the nose wheel. A solid landing on the nose wheel or swinging the nose to quickly while taxiing can cause a nose wheel failure.
If the pilot was turning left from the runway onto the taxiway then the right main gear can and could collapse. This happens a lot with the Beech Baron series because the gear and flap switches have reversed locations depending on the year of the Baron.
Good catch Mike. The Bonanza I had has its gear and flap switches on the opposite sides of the console compared to Cessna twins. However, maybe the pilot should have added power and went around to sort out the issue he had.
Hold on here. It sounds like the aircraft’s squat switch was not working, I have flown 310’s and 320’s and if the system is working properly you should not be able to retract the gear on the ground. Granted the pilot activated the wrong switch but that is what the system is designed to prevent.