Accident to the Beech 60 registered HB-GJK on 14/09/2019 at Bâle-Mulhouse AD (Haut-Rhin)

This is a courtesy translation by the BEA. As accurate as the translation may be, the original text in French is the work of reference.

Note: The following information is principally taken from the pilot’s statement. This information has not been independently validated by the BEA.

1 - History of the flight

The pilot, accompanied by a passenger, took off from Bâle-Mulhouse aerodrome for a local flight. On approach, he obtained clearance to land on main runway 15. On lowering the landing gear, the locked indicator light corresponding to the nose landing gear did not change to green. He decided to fly over the aerodrome in order to ask the controller to confirm that the nose landing gear was extended. After obtaining the confirmation that it was extended, the pilot was cleared to land on secondary runway 26[1]. On final, he shut down the engines. He touched down on the main landing gear as close as possible to the runway threshold and delayed to a maximum, the nose gear coming into contact with the ground. As the speed decreased, the nose gear touched the runway. Three seconds after the nose gear touchdown, the pilot heard a loud noise. The nose landing gear retracted, the aeroplane slid around 100 m on its nose and came to a halt on the runway.

2 - Additional information

The pilot, aged 70 years, was the owner of the aeroplane. The day of the accident, he held a Private Pilot Licence (PPL) associated with an instrument flight rating. He had logged approximately 13,000 flight hours of which 1,200 hours on type.

The Beechcraft 60 has a retractable tricycle landing gear. Three indicator lights independently show the locked position of the left and right main landing gear and the nose landing gear. The colour green corresponds to the downlocked position and the colour red to the uplocked position.

The pilot said that a nut belonging to the landing gear was found broken and that this could be the cause of the gear not locking. He specified that he had not been able to determine why the nut had failed.