Bellanca 8KCAB N5500C

Summary

On 21 May 1999 at about 19:00 local time, a Bellanca 8KCAB registered N5500C was involved in an accident near Lufkin, Texas, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

21 May 1999 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Lufkin, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Angelina County Airport (LFK)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Bellanca 8KCAB

Registration

N5500C

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Nacogdoches → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW99LA145

Nobody was injured.

The loss of control due to the separation of the left main landing gear as a result of the fatigue failure of the U-bolt which attaches the landing gear to the airframe.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The left main landing gear separated from the airframe following a normal wheel landing on runway 15. The separation resulted from failure of the 'U-bolt' attaching the left main landing gear to the fuselage. The left wing contacted the ground and the airplane came to rest on the west side of the 4,550 foot runway. A review of the maintenance history of the airplane revealed that the airframe had accumulated a total time of 708 hours. The failed landing gear U-bolt, part number 1-9805, was shipped to the NTSB Materials Laboratories in Washington, D.C., for metallurgical evaluation. The metallurgical evaluation revealed that the bolt failed as a result of fatigue.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.