N21RS

On April 5, 2023, about 1500 Pacific daylight time, a Beech 95, N21RS sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Bremerton, Washington. The pilot was uninjured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The airplane had been parked on a ramp under a tarpaulin for approximately one year, and that this was the first flight after an annual inspection that had recently been performed. He stated that on final approach for landing, the gear selector lever was down, and the landing gear indicator green light was illuminated. The pilot stated the gear collapsed a few seconds after touchdown, and after viewing the damage, he believed the gear never extended. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage at the lateral wing spar carry-through structure.

Postaccident examination immediately following the accident revealed that the landing gear did not extend with the gear selector lever in the down position, although the gear status light illuminated green. The aural gear warning horn, which was designed to activate if the gear was retracted with the throttles at low engine power, was also not audible.

Further examination of the gear extension system revealed the landing gear down limit and down indicator switch, along with the interconnected warning horn switch, were stuck in the normally open (NO) position. The NO condition had caused this portion of the electrical circuit to falsely indicate a landing gear down and safe position even though the landing gear was retracted. The NO condition also disabled the landing gear motor circuit and the landing gear warning horn circuit. In this condition the down and locked indicator only needed the landing gear position switch selected to the down position to complete the circuit for a green light gear down indication.

After restoring normal operation to the switches, the landing gear extension and gear warning horn operated normally.