Meyers Industries Inc 200A N489C accident near Marathon, Florida

Probable cause

The failure of the right main landing gear to fully extend during landing as a result of the underinflated right main landing gear oleo strut.

NTSB analysis

According to the pilot, during final approach the nose and left main landing gear lights were illuminated green. The red “in-transit” light was illuminated for the right main landing gear. He overflew the runway and airport personnel confirmed that the right main landing gear was partially extended. He unsuccessfully attempted to cycle, manually extend, and use g-force maneuvers to extend the right main landing gear. The pilot performed a landing and kept the right wing off the ground as long as he could during the landing since the right main landing gear was partially extended. During the landing rollout, the right wing impacted the runway, the airplane veered to the right and came to rest off the right side of the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the right aileron. A post-accident examination of the right main landing gear revealed that the oleo strut was under inflated, therefore, the strut did not extend the wheel properly and could not retract correctly into the right main landing gear wheel well. Then, when the landing gear was extended, the wheel became lodged on the wheel well and could not extend properly. After the airplane was lifted off the runway, the right main landing gear was extended by hand and it locked into place. The most recent annual inspection was performed about 5 months before the accident, and at that time the left main landing gear actuator was serviced. The maintenance entry did not record any service to the right main landing gear.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA21LA235 for the full record.