Cessna TR182 accident near Beloit, Kansas, June 18, 2018

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The private pilot was practicing takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern when the left main landing gear (MLG) failed to extend. He cycled the gear, but the left MLG still would not extend. He then attempted to manually extend the gear without success. The pilot subsequently executed an emergency landing on the turf runway. During recovery of the airplane, one of the left brake caliper's back plate bolts was found backed out. Scrape marks were present on the fuselage skin, consistent with contact from the extended back plate bolt. The MLG extension/retraction system and the emergency extension system both performed normally during postaccident examination. An annual inspection had been completed 6 days before the accident, and the airplane had accumulated a total of 3.2 hours since then. The mechanic that performed the inspection reported that the brake calipers were removed at that time and that the bolts had not been secured with safety wire after they were re-installed. Given the evidence, it is likely that the mechanic did not properly torque the left brake caliper back plate bolt after he re-installed it during the annual inspection, which allowed it to back out and led to the subsequent failure of the left MLG to extend. Although safety wire would have prevented the bolt from backing out, the airframe manufacturer's service manual was not consistent about whether to use safety wire. Regardless, the bolt would not have backed out if it had been tightened within the specified torque.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.