Piper PA-44-180 N316PA

Summary

On 4 September 2011 at about 16:20 local time, a Piper PA-44-180 registered N316PA, operated by Bird Acquisition LLC, was involved in an accident near Phoenix, Arizona, 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

4 September 2011 at 16:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Phoenix Deer Valley Airport (DVT)

Coordinates

33.6856, -112.0864

Aircraft

Piper PA-44-180

Registration

N316PA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Bird Acquisition LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Phoenix → Phoenix

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR11LA471

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's improper flare and hard landing, which resulted in the failure of the nose landing gear drag link in overstress.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot and certified flight instructor (CFI) were practicing a series of landings. The CFI said that the second and third landings were short field landings and were not excessively hard. During the landing roll on the third landing, the nose of the airplane lowered, and the CFI suspected a collapse of the oleo strut. The CFI took control of the airplane and taxied down the runway. The CFI stated that, during the taxi, he noted nothing irregular with the handling of the airplane and informed the tower air traffic controller that this was going to be a full stop landing. After contacting the ground controller, the CFI added power, and noticed that the steering had failed, so he attempted to use differential thrust to turn the airplane. He then heard the propellers contact the ground and immediately shut down both engines. After exiting the airplane, he noticed that the nose gear was extended forward and resting against the most forward fuselage rib in the wheel well. A postaccident examination revealed a fractured and separated drag link and hydraulic fluid leaking from the wheel well. Examination of the fractured surfaces revealed rough matte gray features consistent with an overstress fracture.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.