20241010015879I

The pilots spent one hour in the pattern at kbxk on October 8, 2024. They practiced seven take offs, landings, and taxi-backs. The landing gear worked perfectly. On October 9, 2024 the gear would not retract. After full stop landing, the hydraulic oil level was not visible on the dipstick and later the reservoir was filled. A check for leaks revealed no visible leaks. On October 10th the plan was to practice some more maneuvers. The gear did not retract after leaving the pattern and flying with the gear switch up and the actuator pump running for about 5 minutes. The gear eventually retracted. The hydraulic system on this Bellanca is a self-bleeding system. The pilots stated that they thought that trapped air due to the hydraulic fluid refill had finally bled out and the system would operate normally. Upon returning to the downwind leg of the pattern at kbxk and extending the gear, the pilots saw green lights for the main landing gear indicating the gear was down. The landing gear actuator pump continued to run possibly indicating that the gear was not down and locked. The pilots left the pattern for some high g maneuvers to try and shake the gear down. They returned for a low pass hoping to get confirmation of the landing gear status from anyone on the ground at kbxk. The pilot of a skydiving aircraft on the ground reported that they had the landing gear extended. The pilots went around and attempted to land. The main landing gear touched briefly but the ensuing pull back on the yoke to hold the nose landing gear up caused a very slight lift off. When this happened, the left main gear collapsed causing the plane to settle on the right main landing gear, nose landing gear, the left wing, tail skid/tie down and the rear underbelly. The aircraft was lifted up so the lading gear could be extracted and then it was parked on the ramp.