With a crew of five, and sixty passengers on board a de Havilland Canada DHC-8-402Q (Dash 8) was operating a scheduled domestic flight between the cities of Lima and Ayacucho in Peru on this day in 2018.
The aircraft shortly before touchdown, note the open nose gear doors.
(© Michel Romero)
After an uneventful flight, the aircraft was on the approach to Ayacucho when the crew configured the aircraft for landing. However, after the gear was selected down it became apparent that the nose landing gear would not lock down. A missed approach was flown and the crew completed the necessary emergency checklists. After completion of the emergency checklists, the decision was made to return to Lima as there were no maintenance facilities in Ayacucho. On approach to Lima, another (normal) gear down selection was made, however to no avail the nose landing gear did not lock down. In consultation with ATC, a low pass over runway 15 at Lima and it was confirmed the nose landing gear doors were open but the gear. was not down and locked.
The aircraft after completion of the evacuation (© Michel Romero)
With all attempts failed to extend the nose gear the aircraft landed on the main gears, after which the crew kept the nose of the runway as long as possible. Once the aircraft came to a stop the crew completed the necessary checklists and an emergency evacuation was initiated. Engineers attended to the aircraft, and after the aircraft was lifted they pulled the alternate gear extension lever and managed to extend the nose gear. After securing the gear down and locked with the ground safety lock the aircraft was towed to the hangar for repairs
An investigation in to the accident was launched by the Peruvian Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes de Aviación (CIAA). In a preliminary report, the CIAA reported that on the previous flight a gear unsafe condition was reported. Maintenance had worked on the defect, but no entries were made in the Aircraft Technical Log with respect to the unsafe gear indication and the actions taken.
Video of the landing (© Peru21TV)
The final report by the CIAA (Only available in Spanish, therefore the following was translated from Spanish using internet translation tools) indicated that the cause of the gears' failure to extend was caused by two proximity sensors, S11 and S12. From the report, it appears that the crew did not complete the "ALTERNATE GEAR EXTENSION" procedure. resulting in the nos gear up landing. As contributing factors, it was recorded in the report that the maintenance staff had limited experience in maintaining the Dash 8 aircraft and that the maintenance and troubleshooting tasks were not recorded properly.
By clicking on the .pdf below the CIAA report can be accessed, please be advised it is in Spanish;
** Editorial note **
V2 Aviation - Training & Maintenance has not been able to obtain an investigation report in English on this accident. This blog is therefore based on several internet sources, and translations using internet tools that might not be accurate. Should there be an inconsistency in the blog don't hesitate to get in touch with us. There are two possibilities to do that, via the comments function at the bottom of this page or via the contact page of the website.
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