Bellanca 17-30A N9792E

Summary

On 6 September 2008 at about 21:00 local time, a Bellanca 17-30A registered N9792E, operated by Howell J. Martin, was involved in an accident near Sparta, Tennessee, 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

6 September 2008 at 21:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Sparta, Tennessee, United States

Nearest airport

Upper Cumberland Regional Arpt (SRB)

Coordinates

36.0558, -85.5308

Aircraft

Bellanca 17-30A

Registration

N9792E

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Howell J. Martin

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

York → Sparta

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA08LA185

Nobody was injured.

Failure of the nose landing gear mount during a normal landing due to an improper weld.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During a normal landing, the weld that joins the right side nose landing gear to the engine mount failed, resulting in a partial collapse of the nose landing gear. The pilot was unable to maintain directional control of the airplane. The airplane travelled off the runway and collided with a fence resulting in substantial damage. The engine mount was modified about 18 years prior to the accident. The modification included the addition of vertically oriented tubes welded on both sides of the engine mount near the nose landing gear attach points, inadequate weld repair on the right side resulted in voids or gaps, and no fusion in some areas. Although the engine mount had been removed and inspected in 2003, and extensive maintenance was completed the month before the accident, visual inspection of the suspect area would not have been able to detect the inadequate weld repair.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.