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Cessna 210 damaged when landing gear doesn’t lock into place

By NTSB · January 10, 2020 ·

The private pilot was conducting a cross-country flight. He reported that, while on the downwind leg preparing to land at the airport in Aurora, Oregon, he activated the Cessna T210L’s landing gear extension lever, but that the green DOWN and LOCKED light did not illuminate.

He thought that the landing gear was down, but performed a fly-by near the air traffic control tower so that the controller could verify the position of the gear. The controller told the pilot that the landing gear appeared to be down.

The controller then cleared the pilot for a second downwind approach and landing.

While preparing to land a second time, he attempted to raise and lower the landing gear, but the green DOWN and LOCKED light again did not illuminate. He looked in the airplane’s landing gear mirror and saw that the gear appeared to be in the down position.

During the landing roll, the right main landing gear collapsed, which resulted in substantial damage on the right side of the airplane.

The pilot said he had forgotten to perform the alternate landing gear extension procedure before landing, which is used when the gear will not lock into the down position.

A post-accident examination of the landing gear system, which included multiple gear retraction and extension cycles with the gear locked, revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The right main landing gear collapsed because it did not lock into place, most likely due to the overcenter drag brace not fully attaining the overcenter position.

Probable cause: A collapse of the right main landing gear during the landing roll because the gear would not lock into place. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to perform the alternate landing gear extension procedure before landing.

NTSB Identification: WPR18LA057

This January 2018 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.

About NTSB

The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant events in the other modes of transportation, including railroad, transit, highway, marine, pipeline, and commercial space. It determines the probable causes of accidents and issues safety recommendations aimed at preventing future occurrences.

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Comments

  1. Deanna says

    January 13, 2020 at 6:20 pm

    The 1976 T210 down switches are another weak point. They have been known to fail indicating gear down. My father had RH main collapse after landing while showing 3 green.

  2. Jeff says

    January 13, 2020 at 11:27 am

    The green gear down and locked light never illuminated. Therefore alternate gear extension procedure.

  3. Henry K. Cooper says

    January 13, 2020 at 6:37 am

    Seems odd that the main gear would collapse on landing, since it must travel down nearly 36 ” before it travels aft and up to stow. But then, I suppose anything can happen.

  4. Barry says

    January 12, 2020 at 5:20 am

    I would like the NTSB’s mail

    • General Aviation News Staff says

      January 13, 2020 at 6:20 am

      The address for the headquarters is: 490 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC 20594. They also have others ways to contact them on their website: https://www.ntsb.gov

  5. Giuseppe Ritota says

    January 10, 2020 at 2:11 pm

    All RG Cessna‘s kryptonite

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