M-20 B/C Ranger
Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 10; Flight Crew Total 30200; Flight Crew Type 1250
Human-Machine Interface; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Other / Unknown; Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Aircraft; Human Factors
Shortly after lift off I retracted the manual gear handle to the locked position between the forward seats. I felt resistance as the gear handle touched the floor and looked down to see that the passenger seat belt was blocking the lock position. I pushed the handle down and at same time inadvertently pushed the stick forward with my left hand causing the propeller to strike the runway. I pulled back the power; extended the gear and landed on the remaining runway. Amateur mistake from an experienced; high time pilot; as I forgot the primary rule: 'Fly the airplane first; deal with problems later'.
An M20C pilot; distracted by difficulty retracting the manual landing gear; suffered a prop strike while attempting to correct the blockage to the exclusion of monitoring the aircraft's flight path. He was able to extend the landing gear and land straight ahead on the remaining runway.