A C210 pilot landed gear up because he was distracted on a test flight while attempting to resolve a...

Attributes
ACN	957210
Time
Date	201106
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	Cessna 210 Centurion / Turbo Centurion 210C 210D
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Landing Gear
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25 Flight Crew Total 3500 Flight Crew Type 1500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Gear Up Landing

Narrative:

The aircraft had just come out of repair of a failed alternator. We were trying to leave on vacation. Upon starting the engine; the alternator again failed; but after shut down and restart; it worked till just after takeoff; then failed again. So I landed uneventfully and returned to the FBO. During taxi it restarted then briefly failed again. The mechanic then offered to come with me for a test flight to see if an over-voltage transient could be triggering the problem. At his suggestion; we stayed in the traffic pattern; cycling the gear up and down a few times; but could not duplicate the problem. After the first touch and go we still hadn't seen a problem. On downwind; I lowered the gear as usual and did a gumps check. But the mechanic then suggested cycling the gear once more. I raised it; but failed to lower it. Just before touchdown; the tower noticed the lack of gear and called for a go-around. But it was too late; and we landed gear up; with full power. Lessons: 1) do maintenance work at altitude away from the airport. 2) sterile cockpit from downwind on. And 3) report gumps check on final.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C210 pilot landed gear up because he was distracted on a test flight while attempting to resolve an intermittent alternator fault by cycling the landing gear and forgot it had been raised on the previous circuit.

Narrative: The aircraft had just come out of repair of a failed alternator. We were trying to leave on vacation. Upon starting the engine; the alternator again failed; but after shut down and restart; it worked till just after takeoff; then failed again. So I landed uneventfully and returned to the FBO. During taxi it restarted then briefly failed again. The Mechanic then offered to come with me for a test flight to see if an over-voltage transient could be triggering the problem. At his suggestion; we stayed in the traffic pattern; cycling the gear up and down a few times; but could not duplicate the problem. After the first touch and go we still hadn't seen a problem. On downwind; I lowered the gear as usual and did a GUMPS check. But the Mechanic then suggested cycling the gear once more. I raised it; but failed to lower it. Just before touchdown; the Tower noticed the lack of gear and called for a go-around. But it was too late; and we landed gear up; with full power. Lessons: 1) Do maintenance work at altitude away from the airport. 2) Sterile cockpit from downwind on. And 3) report GUMPS check on final.

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.