Pilot and passenger unharmed after forced landing after failure in the landing gear of the Lancair 320

A pilot and his passenger were uninjured after a forced landing after encountering a failure in the landing gear of the Lancair 320.

The 45-year-old pilot was taking the Lancair 320 aircraft to Snoring airfield in Norfolk when he noticed the right landing gear “was not locked”.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch report said the pilot had “maintained directional control using differential braking” during the emergency landing at the airfield on October 7 last year when the pilot noticed the problem.

It read: ‘Eventually, as the aircraft slowed down, it skidded off the paved surface.

“The nose gear collapsed when it entered a pothole at the edge of a field.”

The pilot attempted several ‘high energy maneuvers to free the gear, but to no avail’ and attempted an emergency descent procedure.

After informing the passenger of the situation, he landed with only the left main landing gear and nose gear locked.

Following the ‘stable approach’ where the plane ‘went off the paved surface’, the aircraft’s nose gear collapsed as it landed.

Both the pilot and the passenger were unharmed after the flight last year.

A subsequent examination of the aircraft by the aircraft maintenance organization found that the right main air spring was unloaded.

This resulted in the landing gear strut articulated link not fully extending as weight was lifted off the wheel after takeoff.

In this position, the tire had caught on the edge of the wheel well and was preventing me from downshifting.

The report added that because the problems had caused a “minimal difference” between the height above ground of each wingtip, it went unnoticed during the pilot’s pre-flight checks.

The commercial pilot, who was in a private jet made in 1998, had completed 2,964 flight hours, according to the report.