Narrative:

The aircraft had been previously annualled; been previously inspected for a trivial hydraulic leak and fluid was replenished; witnessed by my co-pilot and the aircraft was deemed airworthy by the mechanic and as confirmed by myself and my co-pilot. On pre flight there were no issues concerns or leaks and on run up; the flaps were cycled and fully functional prior to departure. I functioned as pilot in command for portions of the flight as did my co-pilot the latter including specifically the landing. On final approach the flaps would not work then the gear would not come down. Having identified a probable hydraulic failure troubleshooting ensued; communication with ATC identifying the emergency; and emergency procedures and checklists reviewed and carried out including efforts at using the hand pump for the hydraulic system; and ultimately the CO2 emergency gear extension procedures. These were all unsuccessful. Several low passes were completed allowing fire and ground emergency services to inspect the gear which related two main wheels down but no nose wheel. The gear door to the nose wheel could be seen in the mirror to be open but no wheel could be seen and there were no green gear lights in the cockpit panel lite. The assumption was that the main wheels were down but probably not locked but also they could not be retracted and efforts continued to try to pump the gear down repeatedly. Emergency services related no foam availability pre landing; and other airports were offered but a collective decision by the crew was to burn off fuel and stay in the vicinity of this airport and attempt landing. We stayed in the pattern; burned as much fuel as we could in nearly a couple of hours without running the risk of a fuel out emergency and then rehearsed and prepared for an emergency gear up landing. Naturally the door had to be opened which created some yaw and drag requiring myself to reach around the co-pilot and hold the door nearly shut as approach was made. Additionally I continued to operate the manual gear pump and paged repeatedly through the emergency procedures and tried again the CO2 cartridge between my legs and we decided that the copilot with more experience would land the aircraft which was logistically impossible for me anyway as I was holding the door shut and operating the pump etc. We pulled the mixtures back; shut off the tanks and shut off the magnetos and master switch. Our approach speed was approximately 90 KTS which was necessary to be safe and to counteract the drag from the open door and there was no time to feather the props; and the extra drag from wind-milling was felt to be beneficial in helping us to stop more promptly (especially if the mains would stay out). Upon hitting the ground it appeared that the main wheels collapsed and the nose hit the ground and naturally the propellers struck the ground. We kept the nose up initially. The cockpit filled with 'smoke' (dust) from the friction and we evacuated the aircraft promptly. There were no injuries and no fatalities.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA23 Aztec's hydraulic system failed in flight preventing the gear and flaps from extending. The alternate gear extension also did not function so a no flap; gear up landing was safety completed.

Narrative: The aircraft had been previously annualled; been previously inspected for a trivial hydraulic leak and fluid was replenished; witnessed by my co-pilot and the aircraft was deemed airworthy by the mechanic and as confirmed by myself and my co-pilot. On pre flight there were no issues concerns or leaks and on run up; the flaps were cycled and fully functional prior to departure. I functioned as pilot in command for portions of the flight as did my co-pilot the latter including specifically the landing. On final approach the flaps would not work then the gear would not come down. Having identified a probable hydraulic failure troubleshooting ensued; communication with ATC identifying the emergency; and emergency procedures and checklists reviewed and carried out including efforts at using the hand pump for the hydraulic system; and ultimately the CO2 emergency gear extension procedures. These were all unsuccessful. Several low passes were completed allowing fire and ground emergency services to inspect the gear which related two main wheels down but no nose wheel. The gear door to the nose wheel could be seen in the mirror to be open but no wheel could be seen and there were no green gear lights in the cockpit panel lite. The assumption was that the main wheels were down but probably not locked but also they could not be retracted and efforts continued to try to pump the gear down repeatedly. Emergency services related no foam availability pre landing; and other airports were offered but a collective decision by the crew was to burn off fuel and stay in the vicinity of this airport and attempt landing. We stayed in the pattern; burned as much fuel as we could in nearly a couple of hours without running the risk of a fuel out emergency and then rehearsed and prepared for an emergency gear up landing. Naturally the door had to be opened which created some yaw and drag requiring myself to reach around the co-pilot and hold the door nearly shut as approach was made. Additionally I continued to operate the manual gear pump and paged repeatedly through the emergency procedures and tried again the CO2 cartridge between my legs and we decided that the copilot with more experience would land the aircraft which was logistically impossible for me anyway as I was holding the door shut and operating the pump etc. We pulled the mixtures back; shut off the tanks and shut off the Magnetos and Master switch. Our Approach speed was approximately 90 KTS which was necessary to be safe and to counteract the drag from the open door and there was no time to feather the props; and the extra drag from wind-milling was felt to be beneficial in helping us to stop more promptly (especially if the mains would stay out). Upon hitting the ground it appeared that the main wheels collapsed and the nose hit the ground and naturally the propellers struck the ground. We kept the nose up initially. The cockpit filled with 'smoke' (dust) from the friction and we evacuated the aircraft promptly. There were no injuries and no fatalities.

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.