CEN23LA407

The pilot reported that he had conducted a practice instrument approach to a landing and chose to remain in the traffic pattern for a second landing in dusk light conditions. While he was on final approach, he was performing the pre-landing checklist (gas, undercarriage, mixture, props) when he was distracted “by what appeared to be another aircraft ahead of me…” However, he could not locate the object again after visually scanning the traffic pattern. During the landing, he heard the main wheels briefly on the runway surface immediately followed by the sound of the airplane’s lower fuselage contacting the runway surface. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the exterior of the landing gear doors, along with the lower fuselage skin and underlying structure, had substantial abrasion damage with no damage to the landing gear structure or linkages. The landing gear operated normally during multiple gear retraction and extension tests. However, during the landing gear test, the cockpit landing gear warning system failed to sound an audible warning for reasons that could not be determined. Based on available information, it is likely that the pilot failed to extend the airplane’s landing gear before touchdown on the runway.

On August 29, 2023, about 1940 mountain daylight time, a Beech 95-B55, N2KM, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Greeley, Colorado. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that he had conducted a practice instrument approach to a landing on runway 35 and chose to remain in the traffic pattern for a second landing. He stated that while he was “engaging gear and first stage flaps,” he heard a radio call from another airplane that was in the vicinity of the traffic pattern. He stated that while he was on final approach for the second landing, he was performing the pre-landing checklist (gas, undercarriage, mixture, props) when he was distracted “by what appeared to be another aircraft ahead of me…” However, he could not locate the object again after visually scanning the traffic pattern. During the landing, the pilot stated that he briefly heard the main landing gear wheels touch the runway surface followed by the sound of the airplane’s lower fuselage contacting the runway surface. The airplane slid on its fuselage and came to rest on the runway with the landing gear in the retracted position, which resulted in substantial damage to the lower fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the exterior of the landing gear doors, along with the lower fuselage skin and underlying structure, had substantial abrasion damage with no damage to the landing gear structure or linkages. During several landing gear retraction and extension tests, the landing gear operated normally. However, during the landing gear tests, the cockpit landing gear warning system failed to sound an audible warning. A review of the airframe logbook showed that an annual inspection was performed on January 7, 2023. The inspection included a landing gear retraction and extension test with no issues noted in the inspection logbook entry.