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Subsequent to the accident, tests on the locking system of the subject aircraft were conducted at the factory in the presence of personnel of the Civil Aeronautics Board. During these tests the system failed to operate satisfactorily in some cases. The possibility of accidental operation of the landing gear handle may have been increased by the fact that the co-pilot made the landing from the left seat, which is customarily occupied by the captain. The cockpit procedure during landing requires the raising of the flaps by the occupant on the right side, and is usually performed when the speed of the airplane has been materially reduced during the landing roll. This leads to a strengthening of the belief that the landing gear handle was inadvertently raised at the time the flap handle would normally be operated. The testimony of the crew, however, does not substantiate this contention.
As a result of this and another very similar accident, the Civil Aeronautics Board recommended to the Civil Aeronautics Administrator on August 28, 1941, that the design of the Lockheed Model 18-08 landing gear retracting mechanism be studied with a view toward its improvement.
PROBABLE CAUSE:
Failure of the landing gear latches to remain in the locked position due to reasons not determined.
