Narrative:

I wanted to maintain single engine currency and single engine night currency. With that in mind I booked the aircraft late in the day from the flying club and headed out after dark to the airport. I arrived at the airport and proceeded to preflight the aircraft. Immediately I noticed frost on the wings; stabilizers; and windshield. I continued with the preflight making note to check that all the lights were operational; exterior; interior; and instrument lights. After completing the preflight I walked over to the club's ready room to retrieve the canister of tks fluid to spray down the aircraft. I returned; sprayed down the aircraft wings; horizontal stabilizer; windshield; and top of the fuselage after which I returned the spray can to the ready room and started up the engine. Taxi; runup; and takeoff proceed normally and I headed out to the practice area north of the field to allow myself time to familiarize myself with the aircraft and its handling capabilities. In the practice area I proceeded with slow flight and noted no issues with configuration. With slow flight complete I proceeded to execute an arrival stall after which I recovered. During recovery I raised the gear and the flaps and noted no abnormalities with the aircraft or its systems. I proceeded to do two steep turns before heading back to the airport. Having been instructed to enter the pattern on the right downwind to [the] runway following an archer on the left downwind. I programmed the GPS and began to configure the aircraft for arrival. Approximately midfield right downwind to [the] runway I lowered the gear and noticed that the left main gear light did not light up. I continued my approach and proceeded to swap out the lightbulbs to check if the bulb in question had simply burned out. Having swapped the bulbs and establishing that the bulb had not burned out proceeded to recycle the gear to no effect. At this stage I called the tower to indicate I had a possible failure of the left main landing gear and that I would like to do a low approach. In addition I asked the tower to take a look and see if they could make out if the left main gear was extended or not. The tower approved my request and indicated that it would be difficult to make out at night but they would do their best. In addition a rescue vehicle on frequency also called to indicate that they would look as well. I flew the low approach keeping the aircraft slow and holding the left wing high as to expose the underbelly of the aircraft to both the tower and the rescue vehicle. Both reported that the gear appeared to be extended normally. Upon hearing this I indicated I would like to return for a full stop landing but would extend the downwind as I trouble-shot the gear a bit more.having done the low approach and established that the gear was extended I proceeded not to recycle the gear. Instead I ran the emergency gear extension checklist which involved slowing the aircraft; pushing the emergency gear extension handle; and hoping for the best. This elicited no further response from the offending indicator. I then checked the circuit breakers all of which were in the normal position; I rechecked the light switches as well as cycled all the instrument lights; I skidded the aircraft to the left and right as well as one sharp pull up in an attempt to joggle the gear lock into place. This availed nothing. Finally; I indicated to tower that I was turning base and would attempt a full stop landing. The tower indicated to me rescue vehicles were onsite and that I was cleared to land. I confirmed my clearance to land. I approached on speed and proceeded to land as softly as possible and to hold the left wing off the runway as long as aerodynamically possible. When the left main gear finally made contact with the runway there was a slight yaw into the wheel as well as an audible compression of the shock absorber on the left side of the aircraft. However the landing gear did not collapse. The tower indicated to me to exit the runway to the left and I asked for a right 360 on the runway in an attempt to again engage the gear lock to prevent collapse on taxi back. The tower approved my request and I taxied back to the hangar without further event. Upon shut down I immediately exited the aircraft and inspected the gear however I could not find any visible issues. The rescue vehicles that had followed me back from their station took my personal information including a copy of my certificate and medical as well as my phone number and indicated to me that the tower has their own process and that I could expect a phone call. I then proceeded to call the manager of the club to let them know of the incident and put the aircraft back into the hangar and headed home.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA28-200 Pilot reported that during approach the landing gear did not indicate it was down and locked.

Narrative: I wanted to maintain single engine currency and single engine night currency. With that in mind I booked the aircraft late in the day from the flying club and headed out after dark to the airport. I arrived at the airport and proceeded to preflight the aircraft. Immediately I noticed frost on the wings; stabilizers; and windshield. I continued with the preflight making note to check that all the lights were operational; exterior; interior; and instrument lights. After completing the preflight I walked over to the club's ready room to retrieve the canister of TKS fluid to spray down the aircraft. I returned; sprayed down the aircraft wings; horizontal stabilizer; windshield; and top of the fuselage after which I returned the spray can to the ready room and started up the engine. Taxi; Runup; and takeoff proceed normally and I headed out to the practice area north of the field to allow myself time to familiarize myself with the aircraft and its handling capabilities. In the practice area I proceeded with slow flight and noted no issues with configuration. With slow flight complete I proceeded to execute an arrival stall after which I recovered. During recovery I raised the gear and the flaps and noted no abnormalities with the aircraft or its systems. I proceeded to do two steep turns before heading back to the airport. Having been instructed to enter the pattern on the right downwind to [the] runway following an Archer on the left downwind. I programmed the GPS and began to configure the aircraft for arrival. Approximately midfield right downwind to [the] runway I lowered the gear and noticed that the left main gear light did not light up. I continued my approach and proceeded to swap out the lightbulbs to check if the bulb in question had simply burned out. Having swapped the bulbs and establishing that the bulb had not burned out proceeded to recycle the gear to no effect. At this stage I called the tower to indicate I had a possible failure of the left main landing gear and that I would like to do a low approach. In addition I asked the tower to take a look and see if they could make out if the left main gear was extended or not. The tower approved my request and indicated that it would be difficult to make out at night but they would do their best. In addition a rescue vehicle on frequency also called to indicate that they would look as well. I flew the low approach keeping the aircraft slow and holding the left wing high as to expose the underbelly of the aircraft to both the tower and the rescue vehicle. Both reported that the gear appeared to be extended normally. Upon hearing this I indicated I would like to return for a full stop landing but would extend the downwind as I trouble-shot the gear a bit more.Having done the low approach and established that the gear was extended I proceeded not to recycle the gear. Instead I ran the emergency gear extension checklist which involved slowing the aircraft; pushing the emergency gear extension handle; and hoping for the best. This elicited no further response from the offending indicator. I then checked the Circuit Breakers all of which were in the normal position; I rechecked the light switches as well as cycled all the instrument lights; I skidded the aircraft to the left and right as well as one sharp pull up in an attempt to joggle the gear lock into place. This availed nothing. Finally; I indicated to tower that I was turning base and would attempt a full stop landing. The tower indicated to me rescue vehicles were onsite and that I was cleared to land. I confirmed my clearance to land. I approached on speed and proceeded to land as softly as possible and to hold the left wing off the runway as long as aerodynamically possible. When the left main gear finally made contact with the runway there was a slight yaw into the wheel as well as an audible compression of the shock absorber on the left side of the aircraft. However the landing gear did not collapse. The tower indicated to me to exit the runway to the left and I asked for a right 360 on the runway in an attempt to again engage the gear lock to prevent collapse on taxi back. The tower approved my request and I taxied back to the hangar without further event. Upon shut down I immediately exited the aircraft and inspected the gear however I could not find any visible issues. The rescue vehicles that had followed me back from their station took my personal information including a copy of my certificate and medical as well as my phone number and indicated to me that the tower has their own process and that I could expect a phone call. I then proceeded to call the manager of the club to let them know of the incident and put the aircraft back into the hangar and headed home.

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.