Narrative:

I had performed an annual inspection on the aircraft in august 2009. I had completed all the discrepancies. The landing gear retraction test was normal. In the recent past I had suggested to the owner that we replace all the hydraulic hoses on the landing gear system. This was not so much because the hoses looked particularly bad but because they had not been changed for a long time. I figured they were original equipment but there was a logbook entry indicating the nose gear actuator hoses had been changed about ten years ago. I told him if these hoses were to blow he would lose all the hydraulic fluid and would not be able to get his gear down. For whatever reason he did not elect to change them. At that time I felt I could not compel him to change them just for age since it is recommended and not required. As I said before; the hoses did not look particularly bad. He went out on a trip and in october 2009 one of the nose gear actuator hoses blew and he had to land it gear up. No one got hurt but the aircraft is in for repair at the FBO. The prop struck and there was some landing gear and antenna damage. In the future I will be more firm about changing these particular hoses.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Mechanic reports recommending all hydraulic lines be replaced on a C177RG during an annual inspection; which the owner declined. Two months later the aircraft had a gear up landing due to hydraulic line failure.

Narrative: I had performed an annual inspection on the aircraft in August 2009. I had completed all the discrepancies. The landing gear retraction test was normal. In the recent past I had suggested to the owner that we replace all the hydraulic hoses on the landing gear system. This was not so much because the hoses looked particularly bad but because they had not been changed for a long time. I figured they were original equipment but there was a logbook entry indicating the nose gear actuator hoses had been changed about ten years ago. I told him if these hoses were to blow he would lose all the hydraulic fluid and would not be able to get his gear down. For whatever reason he did not elect to change them. At that time I felt I could not compel him to change them just for age since it is recommended and not required. As I said before; the hoses did not look particularly bad. He went out on a trip and in October 2009 one of the nose gear actuator hoses blew and he had to land it gear up. No one got hurt but the aircraft is in for repair at the FBO. The prop struck and there was some landing gear and antenna damage. In the future I will be more firm about changing these particular hoses.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.