A PA24 pilot reported that a popped landing gear motor circuit breaker was reset successfully. Prior...

Narrative:

As I had left my home base earlier in the day I was experiencing some difficulty with the gear motor fuse popping whenever the gear was retracted or extended. Before leaving the area I contacted center and then local ATC for a low pass to fly by the tower for a visual inspection of the gear to see if it was in the position determined from the cockpit. Having a colleague in the tower confirm my suspicions I determined the flight could be made under safe conditions. Upon arriving back in the area I asked again for a low approach to determine the position of the landing gear. The tower was able to see that the gear was down; but could not confirm any locked-in position. Through cycling the gear up and down twice never did I receive a locked position light from the panel. Proceeding with the approach I slowed the airplane as much as possible with gear and flaps down touching down lightly. At that time the gear gave away and the airplane flattened to the runway. Skidding several feet I quickly shutdown the system and exited the airplane. I had approximately 20 gallons of fuel on board and could have kept flying attempting to determine how to correct the locked down problem. From all indications inside the cabin; the correct sound and feel indicated that the gear was down and locked; but not so. There are always more actions/inactions that could result in different outcomes. I will second guess and replay this and other situations for a good long time before resolving and forgiving myself.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA24 pilot reported that a popped landing gear motor circuit breaker was reset successfully. Prior to the next landing the gear did not indicate down and locked although visually they appeared down during an ATC Tower flyby. The landing gear collapsed on landing.

Narrative: As I had left my home base earlier in the day I was experiencing some difficulty with the gear motor fuse popping whenever the gear was retracted or extended. Before leaving the area I contacted Center and then local ATC for a low pass to fly by the tower for a visual inspection of the gear to see if it was in the position determined from the cockpit. Having a colleague in the Tower confirm my suspicions I determined the flight could be made under safe conditions. Upon arriving back in the area I asked again for a low approach to determine the position of the landing gear. The tower was able to see that the gear was down; but could not confirm any locked-in position. Through cycling the gear up and down twice never did I receive a locked position light from the panel. Proceeding with the approach I slowed the airplane as much as possible with gear and flaps down touching down lightly. At that time the gear gave away and the airplane flattened to the runway. Skidding several feet I quickly shutdown the system and exited the airplane. I had approximately 20 gallons of fuel on board and could have kept flying attempting to determine how to correct the locked down problem. From all indications inside the cabin; the correct sound and feel indicated that the gear was down and locked; but not so. There are always more actions/inactions that could result in different outcomes. I will second guess and replay this and other situations for a good long time before resolving and forgiving myself.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	847908
Time
Date	200908
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	PA-24 Comanche
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Gear Extend/Retract Mechanism
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 75 Flight Crew Total 550 Flight Crew Type 45
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A PA24 pilot reported that a popped landing gear motor circuit breaker was reset successfully. Prior to the next landing the gear did not indicate down and locked although visually they appeared down during an ATC tower flyby. The landing gear collapsed on landing.