Air Accidents Investigation Branch
During preparation for a cargo flight from Heathrow to Frankfurt, the ground maintenance team was working to address three fault messages associated with the nose landing gear (NLG) doors while the flight crew prepared the aircraft. The Dispatch Deviation Guide confirmed that rectification of the defects could be deferred to a later date providing that the landing gear was recycled to confirm the NLG functioned correctly. To prevent the landing gear from retracting when UP was selected, the landing gear downlock pins were fitted. However, when UP was selected, the NLG retracted. As a result, the aircrafts nose struck the ground, which caused significant damage to the lower front section of the aircraft. This inflicted minor injuries on the co-pilot and one of the cargo loading team.
The accident was caused by the NLG downlock pin being inadvertently inserted in the downlock link assembly apex pin instead of the downlock pin hole. The design of the aircraft NLG downlock assembly created an opportunity for error when inserting the NLG locking pin, because two holes were located so close together that the pin could be accidentally inserted in the wrong location.
A Service Bulletin and Airworthiness Directive was available that would have prevented the accident, but this had not been completed yet on G-ZBJB. The operator and the airport have introduced a number of Safety Actions which cover the adoption of corrective modifications to the aircraft, changes to maintenance and incident response procedures.
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