Pilot Debrief

CIRRUS DESIGN CORP SR20 near Fort Worth, TX — 2020-11-06

Final reportCEN21LA108
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Date
2020-11-06
Location
Fort Worth, TX, USA
Airport
AFW
Aircraft
CIRRUS DESIGN CORP SR20
Registration
N720TX
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Landing

Probable cause

A failure of the nose wheel landing strut for reasons that could not be determined based on available information.

NTSB narrative

Just after touchdown during landing, the airplane’s nose landing gear collapsed, which resulted in substantial damage to the engine firewall. Examination revealed that the gear strut separated near the top of the assembly. Video of the landing was not consistent with a hard landing. The airplane had experienced a hard landing about 2 months before the accident landing, after which it was inspected in accordance with the manufacturer’s hard landing checklist. The accident landing was the fourth landing since being returned to service. The nose landing gear strut assembly was not retained and provided for metallurgical examination. It could not be determined if the strut failed due to damage from the previous hard landing or another hard landing before the accident flight.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Mechanical failure
First missed decision gate
Proper inspection and maintenance after previous hard landing could have prevented failure.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Video
  • Photos
  • 4 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents4

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