Cessna 404, VH-SKW

A Cessna 404 Titan aircraft was being operated on a scheduled passenger service from Cairns to Aurukun.

At 1116 EST, the crew reported to Brisbane Air Traffic Control that they were holding overhead Aurukun with an unsafe landing gear indication. At about 1212 EST, the crew advised ATC that they intended to land at Aurukun. The aircraft's nose landing gear collapsed soon after contacting the runway during the landing roll. The aircraft sustained significant impact damage to both propellers and the nose landing gear, and abrasion damage to the forward underside of the fuselage. There were no injuries.

The pilot later reported that the flight had proceeded normally until about 200 feet above ground level during approach to land when he noticed the red landing-gear unlocked light illuminate. All three green landing-gear down lights were also illuminated. The crew conducted a missed approach and then held overhead the runway while assessing the problem, and to reduce the fuel load. They found that the landing-gear circuit breaker had tripped. The crew reset the circuit breaker, but it tripped again immediately. They then attempted to extend the landing-gear using the emergency system but were unsuccessful.

The landing gear system was examined by company engineering personnel, who informed the ATSB that they found that electrical arcing had occurred across multiple terminals in the cannon plug connector located at the bulkhead of the nose-wheel well. Several of the terminals had fused together, causing the erroneous landing gear position indications. The most likely reason for the arcing was the ingress of moisture. The emergency extension system operated normally when tested by maintenance personnel who advised that the crew had probably not operated the emergency extension system correctly.

The ATSB did not conduct an on-site investigation of this accident. All information relating to the accident was obtained from the flight crew and company engineering personnel.