Aircraft damaged as pilot retracts gear in lieu of turning off landing light.

Attributes
ACN	266902
Time
Date	199403
Day	Fri
Local Time Of Day	1801 To 2400
Place
Locale Reference	airport : pen
State Reference	FL
Altitude	agl bound lower : 0 agl bound upper : 0
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Operator	general aviation : personal
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	landing other
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Affiliation	Other
Function	flight crew : single pilot
Qualification	pilot : instrument pilot : commercial pilot : cfi pilot : atp pilot : flight engineer
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 220 flight time total : 16500 flight time type : 600
ASRS Report	266902
Person 2
Affiliation	government : faa
Function	controller : local
Qualification	controller : non radar
Events
Anomaly	non adherence : published procedure other anomaly
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	none taken : detected after the fact
Consequence	other
Supplementary
Primary Problem	Flight Crew Human Performance
Air Traffic Incident	Pilot Deviation

Narrative:

During landing rollout, I attempted to turn off a high wattage landing light to keep it from overheating. Instead of turning off the landing light, I actuated the landing gear. The aircraft was light enough on the struts to bypass the squat switch. Corrective action: don't activate any switch without devoting total attention to action, i.e., roll clear of the runway.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ACFT DAMAGED AS PLT RETRACTS GEAR IN LIEU OF TURNING OFF LNDG LIGHT.

Narrative: DURING LNDG ROLLOUT, I ATTEMPTED TO TURN OFF A HIGH WATTAGE LNDG LIGHT TO KEEP IT FROM OVERHEATING. INSTEAD OF TURNING OFF THE LNDG LIGHT, I ACTUATED THE LNDG GEAR. THE ACFT WAS LIGHT ENOUGH ON THE STRUTS TO BYPASS THE SQUAT SWITCH. CORRECTIVE ACTION: DON'T ACTIVATE ANY SWITCH WITHOUT DEVOTING TOTAL ATTN TO ACTION, I.E., ROLL CLR OF THE RWY.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.