DEN00LA094

Factual narrative

On May 21, 2000, at 1505 mountain daylight time, a Cessna T210M, N66DF, registered to Western Farm Bureau Service Co., Inc., was substantially damaged when it landed gear up at Laramie Regional Airport, Laramie, Wyoming. The private certificated pilot in command and airline transport certificated pilot examiner were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight originated at Laramie approximately 1 hour before the accident. The following is based on a telephone interview with the pilot and the accident report he submitted. He was in the process of taking the commercial pilot practical test for airplanes, single engine, land. After performing various maneuvers required for the test, he returned to Laramie for the takeoff and landing phase of the test. Over the Laramie Vortac, he lowered the landing gear and extended the flaps 10 degrees, announcing "gear unlocked and coming down." The GEAR DOWN green light illuminated and he announced, "gear down and locked" (the sun came through the rear window and the glare illuminated the landing gear indicator lights, and he thought he saw three green lights). He turned left downwind for runway 21. On base leg, he extended the flaps 20 degrees, and deployed full flaps when he turned onto final approach. As the airplane approached the runway threshold, the pilot retarded the throttle. The gear warning horn did not sound. The airplane landed wheels up. The landing gear warning horn then began sounding. The pilot said the landing gear selector was in the DOWN position. The nose gear doors were open and the nose gear was partially extended. The main landing gear doors were partially open but the main landing gear was not extended (the main landing gear can be seen from the cockpit, but neither pilot visually checked to see if it was down). The pilot said he thought he may have inadvertently placed the gear selector in the NEUTRAL position. At touch down, "the gear selector jumped the small detent from the NEUTRAL to the DOWN position, causing the GEAR UNSAFE warning horn and the gear hydraulic pump to activate and begin to open the gear doors and extend the gear." Damage consisted of a buckled firewall and bulkheads. At the time this report was written, the check pilot had not responded to a request that he complete his portion of the accident report. The pilot was taking the commercial pilot practical test for airplanes, single engine, land, and had advanced to the takeoff and landing phase of the test. He lowered the landing gear and extended the flaps. He thought the GEAR DOWN green light had illuminated and he announced, 'gear down and locked' (the sun came through the rear window and the glare illuminated the landing gear indicator lights). As the airplane approached the runway threshold, the pilot retarded the throttle. The gear warning horn did not sound. The airplane landed wheels up. The landing gear warning horn then began sounding. The landing gear selector was in the DOWN position, the nose gear doors were open, and the nose gear was partially extended. The main landing gear doors were partially open, but the main landing gear was not extended. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12