WPR19LA237

Shortly after departing on a solo flight, at an altitude of about 3,000 ft mean sea level, the student pilot detected smoke in the cockpit. He immediately returned to the departure airport and landed gear up, which resulted in substantial damage to the airplane. The pilot stated that he chose to land with the gear up because he believed the airplane was on fire and “…just wanted to get the airplane on the ground.” The pilot did not report any other mechanical anomalies with the airplane or engine that would have precluded normal operation. A postaccident examination of the landing gear system revealed that the electric motor that powered the hydraulic power pack likely remained powered after the landing gear had been retracted. When the motor failed to shut off, it overheated and burned out, which likely resulted in smoke entering the cockpit. The reason for the motor anomaly could not be determined.

On August 20, 2019, about 1435 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 210M airplane, N501SF, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Eugene, Oregon. The student pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 instructional flight. The student pilot reported that the accident flight was his third supervised solo flight. Shortly after departure, at an altitude of about 3,000 ft mean sea level, he smelled smoke in the cockpit. He returned to the departure airport, where he performed a gear-up landing, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane. The pilot mentioned that he elected not to attempt to lower the landing gear with the landing gear selector switch, nor to utilize the emergency landing gear extension procedure. The pilot stated, “I thought I was on fire and just wanted to get the airplane on the ground.” An examination by a mechanic revealed that the electric motor that powered the hydraulic power pack pump for the landing gear was still powered after the accident. The mechanic stated that he believed the motor did not shut off during the gear retraction and that this would have caused it to overheat and burn out, resulting in smoke in the cockpit. He was not able to determine why the motor failed to shut off as designed. The pilot did not report any additional mechanical anomalies with the airplane or engine that would have precluded normal operation.