A be-95 instructor reported his student placed the landing gear lever toward the down position; but ...

Attributes
ACN	1406898
Time
Date	201611
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Travelair 95
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Component
Aircraft Component	Landing Gear
Person 1
Function	Instructor
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 10000 Flight Crew Type 3500
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Gear Up Landing

Narrative:

I was the cfime for a multi-engine training flight. We were practicing a simulated single engine approach to a landing. This is a complex; nonstandard simulated emergency procedure where the power from only one engine is used to fly and land the aircraft.this is a challenging exercise that was further complicated by conflicting aircraft traffic. In the stress and rush of the landing I observed my student; who was flying the aircraft; reached across the instrument panel and put his hand on the landing gear control lever. I believed the plane was configured to land. We did land; but with gear up. My student's first words were; 'I was sure the gear was down.' at that point I checked the gear control handle. It wasn't in the up locked position. It wasn't in the down locked position. It was in a central or neutral position. We both failed to confirm that the gear was actually down. Very expensive; indelible lesson learned; the hard way.shouldn't the gear position selector have only 2 possible positions (settings) up or down? My student thought he had moved the selector from up to down; when in fact he had only moved it out of the up latched position. The center/neutral/off position seems to have no purpose other than to cause expensive problems.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A BE-95 instructor reported his student placed the landing gear lever toward the down position; but undetected by either pilot; the gear did not extend because the gear lever was actually in the neutral; off position. The aircraft landed gear up.

Narrative: I was the CFIME for a multi-engine training flight. We were practicing a simulated single engine approach to a landing. This is a complex; nonstandard simulated emergency procedure where the power from only one engine is used to fly and land the aircraft.This is a challenging exercise that was further complicated by conflicting aircraft traffic. In the stress and rush of the landing I observed my student; who was flying the aircraft; reached across the instrument panel and put his hand on the landing gear control lever. I believed the plane was configured to land. We did land; but with gear up. My student's first words were; 'I was sure the gear was down.' At that point I checked the gear control handle. It wasn't in the up locked position. It wasn't in the down locked position. It was in a central or neutral position. We both failed to confirm that the gear was actually down. Very expensive; indelible lesson learned; the hard way.Shouldn't the gear position selector have only 2 possible positions (settings) up or down? My student thought he had moved the selector from up to down; when in fact he had only moved it out of the up latched position. The center/neutral/off position seems to have no purpose other than to cause expensive problems.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

A be-95 instructor reported his student placed the landing gear lever toward the down position; but undetected by either pilot; the gear did not extend because the gear lever was actually in the neutral; off position. The aircraft landed gear up.