Pilot Debrief

BEECH 95 B55 near Albany, NY — 2015-11-22

Final reportERA16LA052
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Date
2015-11-22
Location
Albany, NY, USA
Airport
ALB
Aircraft
BEECH 95 B55
Registration
N600VP
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Landing

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain a proper flare while landing in gusting crosswind conditions, which resulted in a hard landing, overstress fracture of the nose landing gear trunnion, and a subsequent nose landing gear collapse.

NTSB narrative

The private pilot stated that, while on approach for landing, he lowered the landing gear and confirmed that all three landing gear indicator lights were illuminated. He noted that there was a "slight" crosswind, and, upon touchdown, he felt an "unusual" nose wheel shimmy before the nose landing gear trunnion fractured and the nose landing gear collapsed. Examination of the fracture surfaces revealed failure due to overstress with no preexisting conditions contributing to the failure. The airport's automated weather observation recorded a 40° crosswind at 16 knots with gusts to 25 knots about the time of the accident. It is likely that, while landing in gusting wind conditions, the pilot allowed the airplane's nose landing gear to contact the runway hard, which resulted in the overstress fracture of the trunnion and the resulting gear collapse.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Mechanical failure
First missed decision gate
Pilot could have aborted landing after first nose wheel shimmy.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

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

Docket documents6

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