Narrative:

I have owned this plane since 2000 and have used it for personal reasons. During that time; the plane was flown a total of 650 (estimated) hours. In march of 2011; my plane was flown to have its annual inspection. When the logs could not be found; I was advised an annual could not be completed without the logs or reconstructed logs but that a 100 hour inspection would be given. The work was completed and I traveled to bring the plane home. After starting the engines and turning on the radios; I found both transceivers could only receive and unable to transmit. Unable to find an avionics repairman on the field; I traveled to an avionics store and purchased a hand held transceiver. Using the hand held transceiver; I departed and flew to my first fuel stop to top my tanks (due to cost of fuel). My flight was delayed about 1:30 minutes before flying to my next stop for additional fuel for the flight's duration to my final destination. Listing to ATIS; I heard the weather was deteriorating and encountered rain about 20 miles south of my destination where when dropping to pattern altitude I found my gear inoperable. Climbing back to altitude; I attempted to lower my gear manually but found the handle frozen. I determined the gear chain had clogged the gear sprocket and was unable to lower my wheels either way. The decision was made to 'belly land' on a grass strip in lieu of a paved strip for two reasons. Pavement and metal cause sparks and would have ignited a ruptured fuel tank. In addition; landing on a rural airport would have caused the airport to be closed for awhile causing expense and inconvenience. I therefore believed it prudent to land on a grass strip with which I was familiar. I was thoroughly familiar with the terrain and geography around a nearby airport since I had been flying out of there for the last 50 years. The landing was successful; damaging the flaps; belly and props. Approaching the class C airspace; I attempted to contact approach with my hand held transceiver but was advised 'aircraft calling approach is garbled and unreadable'. I continued to the airport with an uneventful landing on the grass strip. The following day; I notified the owner my plane was on his property. The FAA was notified when their offices were opened and I have completed and sent them a report. There were no injuries or property damage other than to my plane. My medical certificate had been revoked.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A BE18 pilot discovered his landing gear would not extend normally or manually. He elected to divert to a grass landing strip for a belly landing.

Narrative: I have owned this plane since 2000 and have used it for personal reasons. During that time; the plane was flown a total of 650 (estimated) hours. In March of 2011; my plane was flown to have its annual inspection. When the logs could not be found; I was advised an annual could not be completed without the logs or reconstructed logs but that a 100 hour inspection would be given. The work was completed and I traveled to bring the plane home. After starting the engines and turning on the radios; I found both transceivers could only receive and unable to transmit. Unable to find an avionics repairman on the field; I traveled to an avionics store and purchased a hand held transceiver. Using the hand held transceiver; I departed and flew to my first fuel stop to top my tanks (due to cost of fuel). My flight was delayed about 1:30 minutes before flying to my next stop for additional fuel for the flight's duration to my final destination. Listing to ATIS; I heard the weather was deteriorating and encountered rain about 20 miles south of my destination where when dropping to pattern altitude I found my gear inoperable. Climbing back to altitude; I attempted to lower my gear manually but found the handle frozen. I determined the gear chain had clogged the gear sprocket and was unable to lower my wheels either way. The decision was made to 'belly land' on a grass strip in lieu of a paved strip for two reasons. Pavement and metal cause sparks and would have ignited a ruptured fuel tank. In addition; landing on a rural airport would have caused the airport to be closed for awhile causing expense and inconvenience. I therefore believed it prudent to land on a grass strip with which I was familiar. I was thoroughly familiar with the terrain and geography around a nearby airport since I had been flying out of there for the last 50 years. The landing was successful; damaging the flaps; belly and props. Approaching the Class C Airspace; I attempted to contact Approach with my hand held transceiver but was advised 'aircraft calling Approach is garbled and unreadable'. I continued to the airport with an uneventful landing on the grass strip. The following day; I notified the owner my plane was on his property. The FAA was notified when their offices were opened and I have completed and sent them a report. There were no injuries or property damage other than to my plane. My Medical Certificate had been revoked.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.