PIPER PA-24

Full Narrative

On January 16, 2024, about 1815 central standard time, a Piper PA24, N7059P, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Hugo, Oklahoma. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
The pilot reported that after takeoff, he retracted the landing gear but did not receive an “Up” indication. He then lowered the landing gear and noted a “Down” indication but did not receive an “Up” indication upon subsequent retraction of the landing gear a second time. The pilot elected to continue the flight and noted that he had to hold right aileron and right rudder during cruise flight to maintain coordinated flight. The duration of the flight was about 3.5 hours.
When the airplane approached its destination, the pilot attempted to lower the landing gear, and the circuit breaker tripped, and the landing gear motor stopped. He attempted several times to reset the circuit breaker and cycle the landing gear, but the breaker continued to trip, and he did not receive either gear “Up” or “Down” indications. The pilot performed a flyby of the airport, and ground observers signaled to him that the landing gear was not extended. He attempted the emergency landing gear extension procedure, but the lever would not move. The pilot noted that while attempting to diagnose the landing gear issues he circled the airport for about 40 minutes. The pilot ultimately decided to land with the landing gear retracted, and he continued to perform flybys to evaluate the terrain adjacent to the runway for the landing. After determining the location where he would land, the pilot conducted prelanding checks, which included selecting the fullest fuel tank based on the fuel gauge readings.
While maneuvering the airplane to land, the airplane’s engine stopped producing power, and the pilot executed a forced landing to a nearby field. The airplane struck small trees during the landing and impacted the ground. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing.
The landing gear system on the airplane consisted of a mechanical gear motor system located in the floor of the cockpit. According to the manufacturer, in normal operation, the gear motor is connected to pushrods actuating the nose landing gear and large push-pull cables actuating the main landing gear. A lever to disconnect the gear motor from the rest of the system was provided for emergency landing gear extension.
Postaccident examination revealed that, with the airplane lifted off of the ground, the landing gear was able to extend once the main landing gear was disconnected from the push-pull cables in the wheel well. The emergency extension lever had been released, but the emergency extension lever had significant resistance when attempting to move it.
A postaccident examination also revealed that the fuel gauge readings were inaccurate. The left tank, which the pilot had reported as having indicated more fuel, was empty. The right tank, which had indicated less fuel, still contained about 5 gallons of fuel.