ASN Aircraft accident Reims Cessna F406 Caravan II F-ZBEP Lorient-Lann Bihoué Airport (LRT)
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Status:Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Date:Friday 24 October 2014
Time:13:43
Type:Silhouette image of generic F406 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Reims Cessna F406 Caravan II
Operator:Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects DGGDI
Registration: F-ZBEP
MSN: F406-0006
First flight: 1986
Total airframe hrs:13943
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-112
Crew:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Passengers:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Total:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Location:Lorient-Lann Bihoué Airport (LRT) (   France)
Phase: Landing (LDG)
Nature:Test
Departure airport:Lorient-Lann Bihoué Airport (LRT/LFRH), France
Destination airport:Lorient-Lann Bihoué Airport (LRT/LFRH), France
Narrative:
The hydraulic pump on the right engine of the Reims Cessna F406 Caravan II had been replaced at Lorient Airport in France.
The airplane was taken on a post-maintenance test flight. The crew flew a go around with a simulated engine failure. When the undercarriage was raised, the "HYD PRESS ON" light went out and the red "GEAR UNLOCK" illuminated. When accomplishing the associated procedure for this fault, the crew heard a 'thump' and vibrations were felt.
They continued to select the undercarriage down but just two greens showed up. The indicator for the nose landing gear remained red. The "HYD PRESS ON" light is now illuminated (amber) along with "GEAR UNLOCK" (red).
To stop pressurizing the hydraulic system of the undercarriage, the pilot flying pulled the breaker "LDG GEAR", causing the "HYD PRESS ON" to go off.
Additional attempts were made to get the nose gear down, among others by using g forces. A low pass over the airfield confirmed that the nose gear was still retracted. The flight crew then decided to enter a holding pattern to burn fuel. After holding for 90 minutes the decision was made to carry out a forced landing with 800 lb of fuel remaining because weather was deteriorating.
A safe nose gear-up landing was made on runway 20 with the aircraft coming to rest after less than 500 m. There was no fire.
Damage to the nose and both propellers was substantial.

Probable Cause:

Causes (translated from French):
The event was a blockage of the nose landing gear caused by the overlapping of two landing gear doors of the front undercarriage.
The cause was the design of the forward undercarriage box allowing the landing gear to retract higher than expected in special operating conditions.

Accident investigation:

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Investigating agency: BEAD
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 161 days (5 months)
Accident number: BEAD-air-F-2014-020-A
Download report: Final report

Classification:
Gear-up landing
Forced landing on runway

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This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
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