Bonanza Touch-and-Go Ended With the Gear Still Retracted

The gear stayed up during a training landing

On 22 October 2016, Beechcraft B35 Bonanza N33AB was conducting touch-and-go exercises. During the landing sequence, the aircraft touched down with the landing gear apparently still retracted. Air traffic control reported seeing sparks as the aircraft contacted the runway on its belly.

The aircraft stopped on the runway

The airplane became disabled on the runway after the gear-up touchdown. The incident description identifies N33AB, the date, training context and runway outcome. The Bonanza's pilot survived the event.

A simple landing configuration error can still have operational consequences

Even without a documented injury, a gear-up landing can disable an aircraft and temporarily affect other traffic using the runway. In this case, the immediate ATC consequence was the diversion of an arriving aircraft while the disabled Bonanza remained on the runway. That operational detail is better supported than any speculation about what happened in the cockpit.

FAA and aviation archival records associated with the event.

The incident account states: “the aircraft stopped disabled on the runway.”

Accident Facts