Cessna 340A N1920E

Summary

On 2 October 2006 at about 00:00 local time, a Cessna 340A registered N1920E, operated by James D. Roth, was involved in an accident near Kalispell, Montana, 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

2 October 2006 at 00:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Kalispell, Montana, United States

Nearest airport

Glacier Park Intl Airport (GPI)

Coordinates

48.3106, -114.2550

Aircraft

Cessna 340A

Registration

N1920E

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

James D. Roth

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kalispell → Kalispell

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA07LA002

Nobody was injured.

The fracture of the adjusting bellcrank in overstress due to binding in a linkage forward of the bell crank.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While extending the landing gear the pilot heard a "loud bang" in the nose of the airplane. With both main landing gear having extended normally and the nose gear failing to extend, the pilot carried out the emergency landing gear checklist, but was unable to get the nose gear to extend. Air traffic control tower personnel subsequently confimred that the nose landing gear had not extended after the pilot did two flybys. The pilot then landed the airplane on both main landing gear, letting the aircraft settle onto its nose as airspeed bleed off, and it came to rest approximately 2,000 feet down the runway. A post-accident examination revealed that the adjusting bellcrank was fractured at the upper end where the fork bolt is normally inserted. The fracture features were consistent with overstress, and there was no evidence of any preexisting damage. The deformation and fractures appeared consistent with the bellcrank rotating relative to a stationary fork bolt during nose gear extension, such as could occur as a result of some obstruction or binding in the linkage forward of the bellcrank. The nature and cause of the binding in the linkages could not be determined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.