Piaggio P180 N139SL

Summary

On 24 April 2013 at about 21:20 local time, a Piaggio P180 registered N139SL, operated by Avantair Inc, was involved in an incident near Clearwater, Florida, United States. 6 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

24 April 2013 at 21:20

Classification

Incident

Location

Clearwater, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

St Petersburg-Clearwater Inter (KPIE)

Coordinates

27.9050, -82.6872

Aircraft

Piaggio P180

Registration

N139SL

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Avantair Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Clearwater → Clearwater

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN13IA270

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the nose landing gear steering manifold during landing, which resulted in an uncommanded and uncontrollable right turn, and the overhaul facility’s improper overhaul of the nose landing gear steering manifold.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During landing, the nosewheel touched down, and the pilot heard the tire "squeal" and then felt the airplane gradually veer right. The pilot attempted to correct the turn by applying left rudder, left braking, and left-engine reverse thrust. The airplane came to a stop with the nose pointed more than 90 degrees right of the runway centerline. Examination of the nose landing gear steering manifold revealed that it had recently been overhauled but that the overhaul was not conducted in accordance with the manufacturer's component maintenance manual (CMM); the overhaul facility used unapproved alternative tooling because it did not have the required tooling to conduct the overhaul as specified in the CMM. The nose landing gear steering manifold exhibited internal damage consistent with metal tooling marks that resulted from the use of improper tooling during the overhaul and led to the failure of the nose landing gear steering manifold during landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.