The gear appears to have collapsed quite evenly. It doesn't look like the nose went first.
Squat switches have a limitation in that if you are departing in a bouncy manner, and operated the retraction mechanism, all it takes is a bump which unloads the landing gear suspension, and the gear will retract.
And as BPF points out, some planes have no squat switches. I did wonder if perhaps that was the case here.
But whichever way, it is a totally crap design if this can happen so easily. £30k? Probably a good chunk of what the whole plane is worth.
including one prolific "expert" on all things GA
Your contributions are always welcome, BPF
