Incident Overview
Description
While taking off at night from McMurray Airport, Alberta, the nosewheel retracted before the aircraft became airborne causing the nose to drop and skid on the runway. Substantial damage to the aircraft resulted but there were no injuries. The landing gear was examined and found to operate normally in all respects. However, it was discovered that a defective micro-switch had been removed from the main landing gear scissors and replaced by a manual one installed on the pilot’s control pedestal the micro-switch circuit was thus by-passed making it possible for the landing gear to be raised on the ground by operation of the manual switch. Conclusion: A premature retraction of the nose gear occurred while the aircraft was still on the ground. The installation of the manually operated switch contributed to this retraction.
Primary Cause
Defective micro-switch replacement on the landing gear scissors.Defective micro-switch replacement on the landing gear scissors.Share on:
