Cessna F177RG Cardinal, G-TOTO, 9 February 2004
Cessna F177RG Cardinal, G-TOTO
Summary:
On the day of the accident the aircraft was flown to a maintenance organisation, for the rectification of a landing gear retraction problem, with the landing gear extended and the electric circuit breaker for the electrical hydraulic pump ‘pulled’. The accident flight to the grass airfield where the maintenance organisation was based was uneventful. On final approach the speed was reduced to 75 mph and 30? of flap selected with the landing flare being carried out at 65 mph. The pilot assessed the aircraft’s touchdown as ‘a greaser’ and held the nose wheel off the ground as long as possible. As the aircraft decelerated the nose dropped and the propeller struck the ground. The nose landing gear pivots were badly worn, the overcentre downlock was out of adjustment, the breakout force virtually non existent, and with the electrical hydraulic pump switched off there was no residual hydraulic pressure in the down lines and the landing was on a grass airfield. Both main landing gear downlock latch pivot pins had double fatigue and the left one had failed which was the reason for the original landing gear problem
Download report:
(330.79 kb)