King Air 100 A/B
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 49; Flight Crew Total 1755; Flight Crew Type 526
Human-Machine Interface; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Evacuated
Aircraft
I taxied out with no issues or indication of an impending problem with the gear. I rotated the aircraft; established a positive rate of climb and retracted the landing gear. I noticed the gear did not sound right and then noted a red unsafe gear light on steady. Someone called on the frequency that my nose gear was still down. I notified the Tower that I had a problem with my gear. I asked for a fly by to verify if the nose gear would retract or if it was stuck down. The Tower confirmed the nose gear was down when my main gear was up. I asked for a heading west so I could diagnose the problem. I cycled the gear several times with no success. I used the emergency check list in the limitations manual and attempted to manually pump the gear down but was unable to get a gear locked indication for the nose gear. Although the green nose gear indication was not illuminated the main gear green lights were; indicating the main gear was down and locked. The red gear handle light was on steady and I had an audible warning for unsafe gear once I had selected more then approach flaps. On short final when I knew I had the field made I turned the fuel pumps off and turned the manual fuel ignition off. I landed the plane on the center line and held the nose off as long as possible. I had turned the firewall valves off. The nose settled in and the plane felt like the nose gear was going to hold. The plane then yawed suddenly and the noise gear collapsed. I pulled the fuel cutoff and feather levers. When the nose gear collapsed it sent me into a skid for about 600 feet. The plane skidded to the south of Runway 27 center line and came to a rest at the edge of the runway before the intersection of 36 and 27. I turned all power off; secured the aircraft and evacuated the aircraft. I was the sole occupant of the aircraft. No injuries were incurred.
After failing to completely retract or extend the nose gear; the single pilot Beech King Air elected to land in an emergency condition at his departure airport. During the landing roll-out the nose gear collapsed and the aircraft slid to a stop; still on the hard surface of the runway.