Accident to the Piper PA24 registered F-BMSY on 22/03/2022 at Figari

This is a courtesy translation by the BEA of the Final Report on the Safety Investigation published in November 2022. As accurate as the translation may be, the original text in French is the work of reference.

Note: the following information is principally based on statements made by the pilot. This information has not been independently validated by the BEA.

1. History of the flight

The pilot of the PA24 registered F-BMSY, accompanied by three passengers, took off at 14:40 from Ajaccio-Napoléon-Bonaparte airport bound for Figari-Sud-Corse airport.

On approach, he contacted the tower controller and then joined the long final for runway 05[1]. On the airport frequency, he heard that a Cessna 152 was performing runway circuits on runway 05. As the PA24 pilot configured the aeroplane for landing, the Cessna 152 pilot announced that he was on the downwind leg. The Cessna 152 pilot, number 1 for landing, stated that he did not have the PA24 in sight, which was then number 2 on long final. The pilot of the PA24, who could not see the Cessna 152 either, invited his passenger in the front right seat, who was also a pilot, to seek visual contact, which was achieved a few moments later.

As he flared, the PA24 pilot heard someone shout "the gear!" on the frequency. Almost at the same time, the aeroplane touched down with the landing gear retracted. The aeroplane slid for about
100 m and came to rest on the runway.

2. Additional information

The 50-year-old pilot held a PPL(A) licence and an aeroplane instructor rating. He had logged
2,823 aeroplane flight hours, including 12 h on the PA24. In the three months prior to the accident, he had logged 22 flight hours, including 2 h on the PA24. On the day of the occurrence, he had already carried out two flights on F-BMSY, for a total flight time of one hour, six take-offs and six landings, including the retraction and extension of the landing gear between each take-off and landing.

He had “retractable landing gear” training and had logged 150 flight hours on retractable landing gear aircraft.

He indicated that the weather conditions were CAVOK.

During the flight, he spelled out the specific techniques for flying the aircraft to the passenger in the front right seat. In addition, he made call-outs to the passenger as he extended the landing gear and the flaps.

He was certain that he had selected the landing gear down with the correct switch on the instrument panel.

He believed that his error came from him not checking the status of the "gear down and locked" indicator light because he was paying attention to the Cessna 152. In addition, he only used the on-board checklist to obtain the appropriate engine parameters of the different phases of flight.

He indicated that he did not hear the landing gear up warning, including during the flare.

He added that it was a gendarme in a vehicle on the aerodrome who noticed that the landing gear was not extended and shouted, "the gear!" on the frequency,

He mentioned that the wheels were very slightly extended out of their wells when he evacuated the aeroplane on the runway.

In retrospect, he reported that the problem with the landing gear not extending was probably due to the landing gear motor circuit breaker having tripped.