Piper PA-28-181 N3060B

Summary

On 7 April 2013 at about 19:40 local time, a Piper PA-28-181 registered N3060B, operated by Triad Air Inc, was involved in an accident near Winston Salem, North Carolina, 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

7 April 2013 at 19:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Winston Salem, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Smith Reynolds Airport (INT)

Coordinates

36.1350, -80.2197

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-181

Registration

N3060B

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Triad Air Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Asheville → Winston Salem

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA13LA197

Nobody was injured.

Fatigue failure of the right main landing gear attach bolts due to an unreported hard landing at an unknown time, and subsequent collapse of the landing gear.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While landing in gusty wind conditions, the fixed right main landing gear collapsed during rollout. Metallurgical examination of the right main landing gear trunion revealed extensive wear, fretting, hole elongation, and disturbed metal around the holes of the lower trunion flange. Additionally, two bolt heads were recovered from the lower flange holes and exhibited fatigue at their respective fracture surfaces. The bolt fatigue, in conjunction with the excessive wear and damage at the lower flange, was consistent with bolt looseness and wear over a period of time. According to the airplane manufacturer, similar events involved airplanes used for student pilot training, such as the accident airplane, which experienced a previous hard landing that went unreported. The damage could then propagate over time, but it was difficult to tell if the initiating hard landing occurred months or years before the actual landing gear failure. However, mechanics commonly check the bolts during annual and 100-hour inspections. Specifically, they check the condition and security by verifying the proper exposed thread count and that the cotter pins were in place. The accident airplane's most recent annual inspection was completed about 3 months before the accident and the airplane had flown about 51 hours since that inspection. The two mechanics who performed the most recent annual inspection reported that the bolts were visually inspected and attempts were made to check retention and security of the hardware with tools; however, the nuts were in an area that was difficult to access with tools. It could not be determined if the wear began before or after the most recent annual inspection.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.