20171221023399A

After reducing altitude from 8500? To 4000? To get under a layer of clouds, aircraft began its decent for approach into vnc. Pilot states he thinks he dropped his gear at 10 miles out because that is his usual routine and began a straight in approach to runway 23 while on autopilot. The pilot states that after he disconnected the autopilot, he continued toward vnc at 1200? While dodging clouds. As he approached vnc, he heard a Cessna call for a pop up IFR clearance to vnc. The pilot states he then dove low to stay under some rolling clouds/sea fog. He states that tampa center then told him to climb immediately and follow the Cessna, and to be careful because he was overtaking the Cessna, and that ATC was having difficulty tracking him so low. He then climbed to approximately 2000? And was instructed by ATC to follow the Cessna into vnc. The pilot states that he was very intent on keeping his eye on the Cessna for fear of losing him in the fog should it shift again. He then went to full flaps and descended for his final approach, turning on speed brakes to further reduce speed. The pilot states that he then pulled the throttle out too FAR while attempting to slow down in order to avoid the Cessna that was now on the runway. He goes on to state, ?the throttle horn alerted me that I had overcorrected the throttle to try not to overtake the Cessna. I applied a small amount of throttle and horn stopped.?

At this point, he believed that all looked good on his final, stating, ?all looked good on final. ?runway lights were clear, no fog impeding my vision, and the Cessna was turning off the runway when I crossed the numbers for landing on 23. Pulled throttle and focused on the runway horizon keeping attitude level and staying centered on alignment while dissipating speed (about 60 the last time that I looked at the speedometer. Expecting a ?greaser? Landing because the flare and float were so good; the next thing that I heard was scraping noise. I immediately shut off fuel, but left lights turned on so that I could see where I was heading. The skid was eerily smooth and quiet, and alignment remained perfect. As soon as I stopped, I radioed what happened to vnc. After realizing what just happened, I killed all electrical power to further reduce risk of fire, got my dog and climbed out of the plane and got away from it.?

The aircraft slid approximately 400 to 500 feet and came to rest on the centerline of the runway. The aircraft gear were slightly out of their wells, the gear handle was in the down position, and the gear actuator circuit breaker was tripped open. The aircraft suffered substantial damage to include a prop strike, belly pan damage, antennas scraped off, step bent (with associated bulkhead damage), damaged landing gear doors, and structural damage to damage to the tubular steel cage frame.