Riley D-16A N119N

Summary

On 1 December 2006 at about 22:15 local time, a Riley D-16A registered N119N was involved in an accident near Point Roberts, Washington, United States. One person was 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

1 December 2006 at 22:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Point Roberts, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Point Roberts Airpark (1RL)

Coordinates

48.9797, -123.0789

Aircraft

Riley D-16A

Registration

N119N

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Point Roberts → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA07CA032

Nobody was injured.

the pre-existing crack in the nose wheel fork, which allowed separation of the nose wheel during the takeoff roll, resulting in collapse of the nose landing gear.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, during the takeoff roll at about rotation speed, he felt the nose landing gear of the airplane "give way" and the airplane began to drift to the left. As he applied right rudder to correct the yaw, he felt "a continued collapse" of the nose landing gear and elected to abort the takeoff. The airplane's nose and both propellers struck the ground. Examination of photos provided by an insurance adjustor revealed that both engines were displaced down and to the right. The right engine firewall was torn from the engine nacelle, and the left engine firewall was buckled and distorted. Additionally, the photos revealed that the nose landing gear fork had broken into two pieces, which allowed the nose wheel to separate from the airplane, resulting in collapse of the nose landing gear. The pilot reported that "an aircraft structural engineer made the observation that my nose gear fork had an old hidden crack that could have contributed to the failure."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.