20240116001979A

Pilot stated that after departure from when gear up was selected, gear started to retract then the circuit breaker popped, and retraction stopped. Pilot then elected to extend the gear after resetting the circuit breaker. Gear went down and gear down indication light illuminated. Pilot then elected to retract the gear a second time, with the same result of a popped circuit breaker. Pilot wasn't sure if gear was fully retracted on not but elected to continue on his flight to Hugo, Oklahoma as his final destination. While enroute he was able to contact pilots at the company he works for, those pilots were based out of texarkana Arkansas. Those pilots departed texarkana and met up with the pilot of the accident aircraft in flight for inspection of the landing gear. The secondary pilots notified the pilot that his gear appeared to be retracted. The pilot then continued to his final destination of Hugo, Oklahoma. While performing his before landing checklist, the pilot selected gear down and got no gear down indication but the gear circuit breaker popped again. The pilot elected to continue circling the airport working on the gear issue. The pilot was able to contact his mechanic who helped talk him thru the emergency gear extension procedure. The pilot still did not get a gear down and locked indication. The pilot then contacted persons on the ground at the airport and proceeded to make several low passes for visual inspection by the persons on the ground. The persons on the ground indicated that the gear appeared to be partially extended. The pilot said he made several lower passes trying to decide where on the airport grounds to perform a gear up landing. On his last pass, he had decided on a location to sit the aircraft down in the grass adjacent to the runway. While making his downwind to base turn, the aircraft engine quit. Pilot stated he was too low to make it to his predetermined landing sight and elected an open field for the emergency landing. Pilot stated that during his glide he struck several small trees which rolled the aircraft, pilot was able to arrest the roll just prior to impacting with the left wingtip then the fuselage, then sliding to a stop.

Onsite inspection revealed leading edge damage to the left-wing leading edge consistent with the tree impact. The left wingtip and position light were found at the base of the trees approximately 150 feet away from the aircraft. The pitot tube and one aircraft antenna were also found in between the wingtip location and fuselage location. Fuel selector found the left-wing tank selected, which the inspectors found empty. The right-wing appeared to contain approximately 6 gallons of fuel as shown on a fuel dipstick found in the aircraft.