CEN23LA124 · Cessna 210

The pilot reported that after takeoff she had to recycle the landing gear because the nose gear would not retract when she retracted the landing gear. The airplane owner, who was seated in the rear seat, reported that the landing gear was functioning normally and that the nose gear did not retract due to the pilot putting the gear handle in the neutral position before the landing gear fully retracted. After the pilot recycled the landing gear it retracted without further issue and the flight proceeded to the destination. Before landing the pilot and two passengers confirmed the landing gear was extended by visual confirmation and as indicated by the cockpit landing gear indicators. The pilot reported the airplane touched down on the main landing gear, followed by the nose landing gear. When the nose landing gear touched down, the pilot felt like the nose landing gear was not locked. The airplane bounced, the propeller struck the runway, and the airplane came to rest upright. The airplane owner stated the airplane touched down on the nose wheel, porpoised multiple times, and came to rest upright. Due to the lack of reported substantial damage, the accident was initially classified as an incident. Several months later, the airplane owner reported additional damage was observed to the forward fuselage bulkhead and other structure. The nose landing gear retract arm was pulled and separated from the bulkhead. During the time between the accident and the notification of additional damage, the airplane was sold for salvage and partially disassembled. Due to the partial disassembly, the landing gear system was compromised and could not be functionally tested. As a result, the investigation was unable to determine if the reported landing gear malfunction occurred before or during the runway contact.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset