The pilot reported that, during landing at the airport in Bridgeport, California, he elected to go-around because of an overshoot of final and an unstable approach.
He applied full power, raised the landing gear, and initiated a climb out.
At the same time, the pilot-rated passenger inadvertently raised the flaps prematurely, which caused the Cessna 210 to settle onto the runway with the landing gear retracted.
Once the propeller struck the runway, the airplane veered off to the right of the runway and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable Cause: An inadvertent retraction of the flaps during a go-around by the pilot-rated passenger, which caused the airplane to settle onto the runway with the landing gear retracted.
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This September 2020 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.
As the pilot not flying, I don’t do anything unless the pilot flying tells me to. I monitor and warn in general.
A couple of C210 POH’s I found don’t even indicate the gear should be raised on a go-around. Flaps should initially go to 20°. Technically the airplane should have held altitude unless the speed was below the green arc when the flaps were raised but that would have taken a quick precise adjustment in the back pressure. Bottom line the recommendations we read often apply here – make a timely decision to go-around and practice go-arounds.
Pilot-rated or not, how does a right seat passenger “inadvertently” raise the flaps?