Brown Mark SPACE WALKER N43904

Summary

On 9 September 2015 at about 19:50 local time, a Brown Mark SPACE WALKER registered N43904, operated by Robert L McDaniel, was involved in an accident near Cahokia, Illinois, 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

9 September 2015 at 19:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Cahokia, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

St Louis Downtown (CPS)

Coordinates

38.5728, -90.1625

Aircraft

Brown Mark SPACE WALKER

Registration

N43904

Category

Airplane

Year built

1998

Engines

1

Operator

Robert L McDaniel

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Cahokia → Cahokia

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN15LA411

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain a proper descent rate during the attempted landing and the flight instructor's delayed attempt to execute a go-around, which resulted in a hard landing, failure of the left main landing gear, and subsequent loss of directional control. Contributing to the accident was an improperly welded landing gear tube.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot and flight instructor were conducting a familiarization flight in the tailwheel-equipped, amateur-built airplane. After completing area maneuvers, the pilot executed two touch-and-go landings. The flight instructor reported that, during the third landing attempt, he noticed that the airplane had developed a high sink rate, so he subsequently took control of the airplane and initiated a go-around as the airplane touched down hard, which damaged the left main landing gear (MLG) and tailwheel attachment spring. The flight instructor was unable to maintain directional control, and the airplane departed the left side of the runway, which further damaged the left MLG. Examination of the left MLG revealed that it failed at the point of a previous weld repair, which was on the lower tube of a multitube group weld and was only partially welded. The improperly welded tube resulted in less-than-intended design strength and contributed to the failure of the left MLG.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.