AAIB investigation to Socata TB20, N20TB
Wheels-up landing, Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, 27 September 2017.
Summary:
The pilot had intended to fly to Sandown, but on checking the weather he decided that it was unsuitable for VFR flight. As it was his passenger’s first flight in an aircraft, to avoid disappointment, the pilot planned to fly a couple of circuits.
He took off, climbed to the circuit height of 800 ft and performed one circuit, which ended in a wheels-up landing.
The pilot stated that he was normally rigorous in performing his checks on finals and could not understand why he had omitted them on this occasion. He suggested that a contributory factor to the accident may have been that he was wearing a recently purchased noise-cancelling headset, which may have made the sound of the landing gear warning chimes less apparent to him.
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