The pilot in the retractable landing gear-equipped Cessna P210 reported that he had been flying an instrument flight rules cross-country flight for about six continuous hours.
He added he felt fatigued and anxious to get out of the airplane, so he decided to refuel en route. He contacted a nearby tower, and, at that time, he was notified of two aircraft in the pattern at the airport in Jacksonville, Florida. He was able to identify only one airplane before he initiated the approach.
During the approach about 100′ above ground level, the tower controller informed the pilot that he needed to go around, but did not say why. The pilot thought it unwise to abort the landing because he did not know the location of the second airplane in the pattern and continued the approach and landing.
He did not do the GUMPS (Gas Undercarriage Mixture Props) checklist because of the distractions, and the airplane touched down with the landing gear retracted.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage longerons and bulkhead.
The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to extend the landing gear before landing. Contributing to the accident were pilot fatigue and his failure to use the before landing checklist.
NTSB Identification: GAA18CA174
This February 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.
Since instrument approach, Gear should have been down at final approach fix or glide path intercept. Fatigue probably coupled with inadequate approach planning at a strange airfield.
My question is why was he told to go around? Unsafe gear maybe? I learned at a towered airport. I was always told that if you were told to go around, push the throttle first and ask questions later.
Chklist, chklist, and chklist…no matter what!!????
A habit of a final check for 3 green is better than just rely ing on the checklist on downwind.
BTW,Cessa 210 go-arounds do not require gear retraction in a huuy because the gear doors act as speed brakes until the gear is fully retracted.
Plane*
Really? So he landed without a landing clearance….what if the other plan had landed on an intersecting runway? or worse was back tracking into the active.
This guy should count himself lucky….it could have been worse.
So unfortunate. Initially of course this would seem to be a lesson on fatigue and pre-landing procedure (which it is of course). But the number one thing I think was communication. The pilot on short final was still distracted by the tower’s report on initial contact of a second aircraft in the pattern. Resolution is always needed one way or another with that type of advisory – either find the traffic in an appropriate timeframe and report that to ATC or advise negative contact and get an update to eliminate the hazard and distraction. Too bad.
Note to self: 6 hours of continuous flight may be too much.
Especially in a small Cessna twin!!
The 210 series is a single. 6 hours of flight isn’t too much by itself. But what else did this “doctor or lawyer” do before the flight ?
A Cessna P210 is a pressurized single engine.