The pilot reported that while in the traffic pattern at the airport in Tucson, Arizona, he was distracted by radio transmissions from the tower air traffic controller regarding maintaining his airspeed and multiple landing runway reassignments.
His pre-landing check was interrupted, and he did not lower the landing gear, and landed gear up on the runway.
The Beech G35 sustained substantial damage to the undercarriage.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane.
The pilot added that he was wearing noise-cancelling headsets and did not hear the warning horn.
During the airplane recovery, the pilot reported that the throttle was in the retarded position and the warning horn was blaring. The landing gear handle was placed in the “down” position and extended normally.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s distraction in the cockpit which interrupted his pre-landing checklist which resulted in his failure to configure the landing gear prior to touchdown.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This February 2021 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.
My father was an aviation cadet at Luke field 1941. He said when a student landed an AT-6 gear up he would be forced to march up-and-down with a hydraulic Jack on a chain around his neck repeating over and over again , “the principle of hydraulics DOES work, The principle of hydraulics DOES work!”
It is so easy to be safely on the ground, scrolling through the internet and judging other pilots. When I was a young pilot I had a very experienced pilot say something to me that really drove home a point. He said that when he was younger he often judged other pilots for their mistakes. As he gained more flying experience he realized that he was completely capable of making each and every one of the mistakes he saw other pilots making. Regardless of how good you think your cockpit techniques are, if you think you will never land a plane gear-up, you probably are increasing the likelihood that you will actually do just that.
GUMPS X 3 should prevent gear up accidents—in a normal pattern, that’s downwind, base, final. On a base entry, that’s a 2 mile base, base, final. On a straight in, that’s 2 miles, 1 mile, final. Note that all of them have a final check on final! In other words, fly the airplane, not the radio.
The Pre-Landing STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE is to initiate landing gear extension at a certain point in relation to the runway, airspeed, altitude, etc. The purpose of the Pre-Landing CHECKLIST is to check that this got done, i.e. two opportunities to avoid a problem.
I have always wanted to be a pilot, but was unable to afford training. While I feel bad for this pilot, I hope those who can be pilots learn from these mistakes. At least this aviator appears to be taking some, if not all, responsibility for the accident. It’s an important start to safer skies.
Radio transmissions at a towered airport distracted the pilot enough that he/she/it forgot to lower landing gear. Wow!
Actual cause; pilot operating machinery above his skill level.
10,000 hours total – 900 hours in this make and model according to the final report.
If the noise cancelling headset the pilot was using was so effective that the loud gear warning horn couldn’t be heard, they never should have been approved for use in flight operations!
Agree. But gear and stall horn alerts can now be transmitted to some headsets.
Precisely