Pilot Debrief

PIPER PA-44-180 near Titusville, FL — 2012-08-01

Final reportERA12LA494
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Date
2012-08-01
Location
Titusville, FL, USA
Airport
TIX
Aircraft
PIPER PA-44-180
Registration
N740FT
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Landing

Probable cause

Inadequate maintenance servicing and inspection of the nose landing gear, which resulted in the failure of the nose landing gear to lock and its subsequent collapse during landing.

NTSB narrative

The flight instructor was conducting practice instrument landing system approaches during an instructional flight when he observed that the nose landing gear indicator light did not indicate down and locked. He observed that the nose gear was extended and he cycled the landing gear without any changes to the nose gear indicator light. During a subsequent landing attempt, the airplane initially touched down on the main landing gear; however, as the nose landing gear touched down, it began to collapse. The airplane came to rest about 2,500 feet from the approach end of the runway, and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage around the nose gear. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the nose landing gear eccentric bushing, which engaged the downlock hook, was out of adjustment. In addition, a check of the hydraulic system fluid reservoir dipstick revealed that the fluid level was below the amount that could be observed on the dipstick. After the hydraulic system fluid reservoir was properly serviced and the eccentric bushing adjusted, the landing gear functioned normally. The airplane had been operated for about 10 hours since its most recent 100-hour inspection, which was performed about 12 days earlier. The accident flight was the airplane's first flight after it was released from maintenance, which included a landing gear inspection and operational check.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Mechanical failure
First missed decision gate
Address landing gear issues before attempting to land.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Photos
  • 5 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents5

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