Pilot and passenger walk away unharmed from crash landing after fault with Lancair 320’s landing gear
- The pilot saw the main landing gear was ‘not locked down’ while flying in Norfolk
- Both the pilot, 45, and passenger were unharmed after an emergency landing
A pilot and his passenger walked away unharmed following a crash landing after finding a fault with the Lancair 320’s landing gear.
The 45-year-old pilot was bringing the Lancair 320 plane into Snoring airfield, in Norfolk, when he realised the right landing gear was ‘not locked down’.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch report said that the pilot had ‘maintained directional control using differential braking’ during the emergency landing’ at the airfield on October 7 last year when the pilot noticed the problem.
It read: ‘Eventually, as the aircraft slowed, it slewed off the paved surface.
‘The nose gear collapsed as it entered a rut at the edge of a field.’
The pilot and his passenger walked away from a crash last year unharmed despite experiencing a technical fault with the Lancair 320
The pilot attempted several ‘high-energy manoeuvres to free the gear but to no avail’ and tried an emergency lowering procedure.
After informing the passenger of the situation, he carried out the landing with the left main and nose landing gear locked down only.
Following the ‘stable approach’ where the plane ‘slewed off the paved surface’, the nose gear of the plane collapsed as it landed.
Both the pilot and the passenger were uninjured following the flight last year.
A later examination of the plane by the aircraft maintenance organisation found the right main air-shock absorber was discharged.
This resulted in the landing gear strut articulated link not fully extending as the weight came off the wheel after takeoff.
In this position, the tyre had caught on the edge of the wheel well and prevented the gear from lowering.
The report added that because the issues had caused ‘minimal difference’ between the height above ground of each wing tip, it had gone unnoticed during the pilot’s pre-flight checks.
The commercial pilot, who was in a private aircraft manufactured in 1998, had completed 2,964 flying hours, the report said.
