Accident Piper PA-28R-201 N786BG,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 198653
 
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Date:Tuesday 13 September 2016
Time:08:00
Type:Silhouette image of generic P28R model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Piper PA-28R-201
Owner/operator:Bowling Green Flight Center, LLC
Registration: N786BG
MSN: 2844126
Year of manufacture:2006
Total airframe hrs:4569 hours
Engine model:Lycoming IO-360-C1C6
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Category:Accident
Location:Bowling Green, OH -   United States of America
Phase: Approach
Nature:Training
Departure airport:Bowling Green, OH (1G0)
Destination airport:Bowling Green, OH (1G0)
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
The two commercial pilots, one of whom was a flight instructor, were planning to conduct touch-and-go landings; the flight instructor reported that he was providing “employee training” to the other pilot. After takeoff and upon returning to the downwind leg of the traffic pattern, the pilot receiving training activated the landing gear switch to lower the landing gear; however, the landing gear control circuit breaker opened. When the circuit breaker was reset, it immediately reopened, which disabled the gear warning system and landing gear annunciator lights. The pilots made a low pass over the runway and maintenance personnel told them that the landing gear appeared to be down. The flight instructor then landed the airplane, and as she was turning it off the active runway, the right main landing gear collapsed.
Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that neither of the main landing gear were down and locked. Subsequently, the school’s director of maintenance entered the airplane and used the emergency gear extension, and the landing gear dropped into the down-and-locked position, and the landing gear annunciator lights illuminated. Although he did not report resetting the circuit breaker, he had to have performed that action for the annunciator lights to illuminate. He later cycled the landing gear numerous times, and it operated normally. The circuit breaker remained closed, and all landing gear indications were normal.
During the postaccident examination, the left main gear down limit switch wire was found dislodged from the terminal. The wire did not appear to have been properly crimped because the crimp mark was not well defined. Based on maintenance records, a new down indicator switch had been spliced in place less than a month earlier. The electrical schematic showed the wire to be energized.
Maintenance personnel reexamined the airplane to determine why the landing gear indication circuit breaker was tripping. According to their report to Federal Aviation Administration, the left main gear down limit switch wire was spliced using the wrong type and gauge of wire. The spliced wires were soldered using heat shrink to cover the splices, which did not cover the wires completely. The three spliced down limit switch wires were bundled together in the left gear well, which allowed them to short, causing the landing gear circuit breaker to trip.
The pilots did not complete the Emergency Landing Gear Extension checklist, which calls for the emergency gear extension lever (which releases pressure in the hydraulic system and allows the gear to free fall) to be pushed down. The pilots should have completed the Emergency Landing Gear Extension checklist in an attempt to ensure that the landing gear were in the down-and-locked position, which could have prevented the right main landing gear from collapsing during the turn off the active runway.
Probable Cause: The pilots’ failure to complete the Emergency Landing Gear Extension checklist and maintenance personnel’s failure to correctly repair spliced wires on the left main landing gear down limit switch, which prevented the pilots from knowing whether the gear was down and locked.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: CEN16LA374
Status: Investigation completed
Duration:
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB

History of this aircraft

Other occurrences involving this aircraft
18 July 2017 N786BG Private 0 Bowling Green, OH sub
Gear-up landing

Location

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
19-Aug-2017 13:47 ASN Update Bot Added

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