Landing gear
With Greenlee flying, Conway advised the Richmond controller that they would circle and land on Runway 33, and that the aircraft had a "healthy airspeed." According to Conway, Greenlee then suddenly remarked, "let's use this runway," turned the aircraft toward Runway 2, and lowered the landing gear handle. Seeing the runway, Conway believed they were too high and too fast for Runway 2. In addition, the plane's landing gear stayed up despite Greenlee lowering the handle; in the L-049, hydraulic power to the landing gear could supplied by either of the plane's two right-side engines, Nos. 3 or 4, which were both shut down. Conway looked down at the landing gear lights, which were not illuminated, and yelled, "Landing gear is not down."