JURCAN Seawind 3000

Full Narrative

On September 18, 2016, about 1500 Pacific daylight time, a Jurcan Seawind 3000 airplane, N57TJ, impacted a runway sign after landing with a landing gear malfunction at the Renton Municipal Airport (RNT), Renton, Washington. The pilot and one passenger were not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. The airplane was registered to, and operated by, the pilot as a personal flight under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. The airplane departed from Lampson Field Airport (1O2) Lakeport, California at 1040 and was originally destined for Lake Sammamish, Issaquah, Washington.

The pilot reported that after arriving at Lake Sammamish, they observed that the right main landing gear indicator light was off and the hydraulic pressure read zero. The pilot attempted to retract the right landing gear several times, but to no avail. He elected to fly to a nearby airport, where the control tower confirmed that the right main landing gear was extended, while the left main and nose landing gears remained retracted. The pilot attempted to use the back-up manual hydraulic pump as well as abrupt maneuvers to lower the remaining landing gears, however, to no avail. The pilot elected to land onto the runway with the abnormal landing gear configuration. The airplane touched down onto the runway right landing gear first. The pilot held the left wing off the runway as long as possible, but when the wing touched the runway, the airplane veered off the runway surface. It slid along the grass and impacted an airport sign and light, before spinning 180 degrees and coming to a rest.

Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed a hydraulic leak that originated at a cracked flare in a hydraulic line fitting. This fitting was located on the bulkhead between the cabin and nose compartment that leads directly into the nose gear actuator.