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.
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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.
The green gear down and locked light never illuminated. Therefore alternate gear extension procedure.
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.
I would like the NTSB’s mail
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: www.ntsb.gov
All RG Cessna‘s kryptonite