Cessna 210 Centurion / Turbo Centurion 210C; 210D
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 245; Flight Crew Total 4100; Flight Crew Type 1400
Troubleshooting; Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Evacuated; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
On first flight after annual inspection; I flew a short 30 minute cross country flight. No problems enroute; using Flight Following on a clear day. On being cleared for a straight in approach; and clearance to land; I attempted to deploy my landing gear. Main gear came down and locked; but no green light. Running the Prelanding Checklist; I tried to turn up the light; then looked outside; noting both main gears down; but no nose gear (mirrors). Retracted gear; and tried again; without success. Notified Tower of situation and requested go-around. Tower suggested a fly by to verify problem and I complied. The Tower verified no nose gear. I then headed back to my home base and tried multiple times to deploy gear without success. I reread POH and other than hand pumping; there was nothing specified. Center had a Controller who owned a C-210 and he talked me though several scenarios; without improvement. He even called his A&P asking for suggestions. When I got back to base I did a couple more maneuvers in an attempt to get the nose gear down; without success. I then circled Class D airspace and tried to manually pump down the gear; at minimum airspeed. The pump would not pump; signifying that there was adequate hydraulic pressure to bring the gear down; and that it was 'stuck' for some other reason. I reread the POH; and decided there was nothing else I could try. I flew a short while longer; till my fuel was low; and then told ATC I was going to land. They switched me to Tower and I made a long; slow approach to landing; at minimum airspeed; stall horn blaring. Also; the gear warning horn was sounding. I turned the fuel flow to off immediately before touchdown. I touched down at the bottom of the white arc (stall speed) and the nose nearly immediately dropped to the runway; I assume this to be from the very low speed; and lack of lift. This shortly terminated forward motion and I exited the aircraft after turning off the battery and ignition. The fire truck arrived and foamed the engine compartment.
The pilot of a C-210 just out of an annual inspection was unable to extend the nose gear for landing; ultimately touching down at minimum speed; coming to a stop on the main gear and the nose off the aircraft and evacuating while CFR foamed the nose as a precaution.