Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 64; Flight Crew Total 113; Flight Crew Type 1
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Aircraft
I departed [and] upon reaching approximately 300 feet AGL; I retracted the landing gear. Within 2-3 seconds; there was a distinct electrical burning odor and when I looked at the GPS unit; it was off. I looked at the gear light and it was off; and I noticed that the plane was not accelerating and instead was flying at 100-115 knots consistent with the gear still being down. I entered the traffic pattern and I cycled the gear and tried to power off and on the avionics. The GPS unit just flashed on and then off repeatedly upon restarting the avionics. The gear did not light up. I had no communication and initially squawked 7600 and made a low pass over the runway. I then had my passenger change my headset to my portable radio while I called [Unicom] on my cellphone. The Unicom person informed me that my gear was partially down and I instructed him to call [the airport] and notify them of my situation. I entered the pattern a second time to try to recycle the master and battery switch. Within 5-10 seconds the electrical burning odor returned. I tried the portable radio but Unicom could not read me. I did a second low pass and spoke to the Unicom again about if my gear came down when I cycled it and they said no. I decided to divert to [a nearby airport] due to the longer runway and emergency fire equipment in case of gear collapse. Unicom notified me that Approach was expecting me on their frequency. I [advised ATC] on my portable radio prior to entering their airspace. No response several times until an airliner relayed my [transmission] to Approach approximately 4 miles from the field. They cleared me for landing. My passenger manually cranked the landing gear as per the POH. I did a low pass over the field and asked the tower to confirm my gear was down. It was up. While maneuvering the aircraft back; the passenger cranked the gear in the opposite direction. On final; they confirmed that the gear was down and I was cleared to land. I landed and the gear stayed down.
BE33 pilot reported diverting to a nearby airport when the landing gear failed to fully retract. Gear was extended via the emergency method resulting in an uneventful landing.