King Air C90 E90
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200; Flight Crew Total 5400; Flight Crew Type 200
Human-Machine Interface; Other / Unknown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Gear Up Landing
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Inflight Shutdown; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Aircraft; Human Factors
I was flying skydivers and the plane had been performing fine all day until the left engine quit on climb out through about 9;000 feet MSL.  When the engine quit it was sudden; complete and without any indication on the gauges beforehand.  I handled the emergency maintaining airspeed; identifying; verifying and eventually feathering the left side and securing it as per the engine failure in flight checklist.  The passengers; (some of which were new to light aircraft and there for their first skydive) and even some of the more seasoned skydivers were panicking and considering bailing out before I got them back to the drop zone; so I had to calm them down and assure them it would be a relatively normal drop and they would be placed over their normal waypoint (which is directly over the airport).  With everyone calmed; I proceeded. I flew them there single engine; everyone got out safely in an orderly fashion and I proceeded to come in for landing.  After checking the weather the wind slightly favored the shorter runway so initially I set up for that but changed my mind to use the longer wider runway just in case.  The wind was near calm and either runway had plenty of room; the pattern was empty and I made all CTAF calls.  The yaw was very strong on power up to circle for the longer runway and hand flying the plane took my attention off verifying the gear was down.  In addition to the distraction from the engine failure and caring for the panicked passengers; the huge open door and loud buffeting made it impossible to hear the gear horn. Not knowing why the engine failed out of the blue I also had a considerable fear the engine may catch fire; even though there was no smoke and it was secured.  I've never had a turbine engine fail and didn't know exactly what to expect; I just knew I needed to get on the ground; back to safety and get myself out of the aircraft.  That was all nagging in the back of my mind as I flew in single engine. The lack of drag from the gear not being down (I was so shaken up I thought I had already lowered it and that the checklist was complete) didn't illicit a mental response for me because the feathered prop sheds so much drag I had mentally compartmentalized my lack of drag as being attributed to that.  I came in and landed gear up; on the centerline.  There was no time for a go around by the time I noticed I was lower than normal; the engine takes awhile to spool to a usable power setting from idle and by that time the plane was already on the ground.  The plane came to a stop; I fully secured it before exit and airport ops was there immediately to assist. A few things could have been done to prevent this outcome - primarily a re-verification of checklist completion (I had run them completely; or so I thought) and of course verification the gear was down by checking the gear lights.  I was so scared there was going to be an inflight fire that unfortunately I became distracted from these key things and let the situation get the best of me.  I'm extremely glad nobody was hurt; but wish I would have been able to hear the gear horn and would have gone around; done it right; and not have had to file this form in the first place.
BE90 pilot transporting skydivers experiences an engine failure at 9;000 feet. The engine is shut down and the skydivers are allowed to jump over their normal drop point. Upon returning to the airport the gear is forgotten and a gear up landing ensues.