PA-32 Cherokee Six/Lance/Saratoga/6X
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 7.6; Flight Crew Total 542; Flight Crew Type 244
Distraction; Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Gear Up Landing; Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Ground Excursion Runway
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Aircraft; Human Factors
I took off at approximately XA:55 headed to ZZZ1. I planned on an XB:30 arrival in to ZZZ1 to request my IFR clearance. I arrived early and went into the FBO to pay any facility fees. My two friends arrived at around XB:45 and we were given a ride out the airplane on the golf cart. Copied down my IFR clearance and taxi instructions and received take off clearance at XC:10. I contacted Departure Control on a 090 heading while climbing to 2;000 feet and received clearance to climb to 4;000 feet. I then contacted a second departure frequency and was assigned a heading of 130 and final altitude of 8;000 feet instead of the 9;000 feet as filed. As of this point the flight was uneventful with clear skies and smooth ride. Nearing the top of climb I noticed that I lost JPI 700 (engine monitor). I took note of this and considered it an instrumentation issue and was not too concerned as I use the aircrafts primary engine gauges.Then; [I] lost the transponder and briefed my friends that we needed to land to check the transponder. I suspected an avionics malfunction and recycled the avionics switch with no luck. I also checked the circuit breakers; the ammeter and the annunciator lights; everything looked normal. I decided to divert as I started a right descending turn. I Then lost the Garmin 430 with the built in com1 radio just and I continued a descent and recycled the avionics switch once more; alternator switch and even master switch. I recycled the on off switch on the Garmin 430 with no luck and switched to com2 radios. The com2 radio was working but could only hear muffled replies from Approach. I also tried using co-pilots audio jacks just in case there was an issue with the jacks on the left. At that point I decided to go to ZZZ instead of ZZZ3 as I was familiar with the airport and knew the on field Maintenance personnel and would determine the avionics issue on the ground instead of continuing to problem shoot in the air. I overflew the field at 2000 feet to determine traffic in the pattern. I identified two Cessna 172's and a couple of Paramotors just west of the runway. My main priority became traffic avoidance due to the lack of radios.I made a teardrop 45 entry to left downwind and watched a C172 turning base and another on a climb out. I continued to slow down to gear extension speed and selected the gear down switch and felt the gear extend continued to slow to flap speed and selected first notch of flaps turned base and selected second notch of flaps and full flaps on final. Flew a normal approach and had no gear alarm and didn't suspect the gear to be up. I touched down with the gear up and realized what had happened as the airplane skidded down the runway and off to the right into the grass. This happened quickly and I don't quite recall the exact order of events but I do remember instructing my friends to exit the plane as I turned the fuel selector to off; turned off all the switches and removed the key. Verified that everybody was okay then prepared to deal with what just occurred. I have repeatedly ran this through my head since it happened and continue to think off how differently and simply I could've handled the situation. I feel like I went with the most obvious and easy option of trouble shooting on the ground and landing at a known uncontrolled field instead of reviewing all possible problems first. I mistakenly identified the initial problem as just an avionics failure; then a partial electrical failure but failed to identify a complete electrical failure until I skidded to a complete stop. I understand and have practiced emergency gear extensions and would've easily managed that if I suspected a gear issue. If the scenario were a stuck gear I would have attempted a forced gravity drop or the worst-case scenario an intentional gear up emergency landing after holding to burn off fuel. My biggest mistake was to not recognize all potential problems and identify the actual complete electrical failure.My recommendation and prevention of a similar incident Would be to approach any seemingly small issue as an indicator of a larger underlying problem and review all possible potential problems that may be associated with it. Also the most obvious solution may not be the best solution; take your time and aviate if an immediate landing is not required. Not all emergencies are initially presented as a major failure. A clear VFR day in close proximity of a known airport made it seem like the obvious and easy step to take would be to land and deal with the problem on the ground. I had plenty of fuel and did not feel stressed or rushed; my main focus or distraction became the other traffic in the pattern that I was unable to communicate with instead of the issues I had in my aircraft.
A PA-32 pilot landing with a complete electrical failure reported they did not realize their landing gear had not extended and made a gear up landing skidding off the runway.