Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150; Flight Crew Total 700; Flight Crew Type 275
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
I departed on an IFR flight. My student was at the controls and retracted the gear after takeoff. At about 700 AGL we realized the red 'gear unsafe' was still illuminated. I looked at the mirror on the engine nacelle and saw the nose wheel was not quite fully retracted and the doors on the nose wheel housing were still open. I decided to recycle the gear and see if it would retract properly with another try. When I put the gear in the down position; I noticed that there was only a green indication for the mains but not for the nose. The red 'gear unsafe' light was also illuminated. I could see the nose wheel in the mirror and it appeared to be in place. I called the tower and said we'd like to return the airport because we were having issues with our nose gear. At this point I took over controls of the plane. I entered a left downwind and tried switched the lights on the gear indicator to see if it was possibly just an issue with a light. I then tried to recycle the gear 2 more times with the same results per tower's suggestion; I did a low approach over the runway and had tower visually inspect the gear. They told me; 'all gears appear to be down.' I entered the downwind one more time and went through the emergency gear extension checklist but it did not produce any new results. I also tried to G load the plane by pulling back abruptly on the yoke and pushing the rudder pedals to yaw the plane back and forth; hoping to lock the nose wheel in place. Tower advised me to fly on a SW vector for a few miles while they made sure emergency crews were in place. During this time I continued to try and g load the gear into place to no avail. After a few minutes I decided our only option was to attempt a landing. At this point I was 50/50 on whether the gear was fully locked into place. I touched down as soft as I could with full flaps and full aft trim; attempting to let the nose wheel down nice and easy. It ended up being a good touchdown but the second the nose wheel touched; it collapsed. The landing wasn't very rough but I could definitely hear the props strike. We came to a stop; shut off the mixture; fuel selectors; magnetos and battery master and exited the plane through the passenger door. We remained about 20 yards away as the emergency crew immediately covered the plane in foam and water. I did not see any fire but bystanders said they saw a small amount of smoke.
A Flight Instructor and student experienced a nose landing gear problem. Following several attempts to ensure that the nose landing gear was extended; the landing gear collapsed during landing.