Beechcraft A36TC N3685W

Summary

On 18 January 2015 at about 19:35 local time, a Beechcraft A36TC registered N3685W was involved in an accident near Flagstaff, 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

18 January 2015 at 19:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Flagstaff, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Flagstaff Pulliam (FLG)

Coordinates

35.1403, -111.6692

Aircraft

Beechcraft A36TC

Registration

N3685W

Category

Airplane

Year built

1980

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

La Verne → Flagstaff

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR15LA099

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's improper landing flare and loss of airplane control, which resulted in a hard landing and the subsequent failure of the nose landing gear.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated that, during landing, the airplane bounced and that he subsequently applied back pressure to the elevator in an effort to deplete the excess energy. The airplane touched down a second time, and the pilot held the airplane in a nose-high attitude. The airspeed decreased, and the airplane eventually came to rest on its nose. Two air traffic controllers witnessed the accident from the airport traffic control tower. They both reported that the airplane bounced a number of times during the landing sequence. One of the controllers reported that the initial landing was hard and on the nosewheel first, which caused the airplane to porpoise down the runway before the nose landing gear (NLG) collapsed. Examination of the of the upper NLG torque knee revealed that it exhibited grinding damage and that its mounting lug, which had broken free, was elongated and that its fracture surfaces exhibited features consistent with overload. Additionally, the nosewheel fork assembly had bent aft, and the forward landing gear brace had broken into three pieces. All of the observed damage was consistent with overload failures. Further, due to the design of the landing gear system, the type of damage observed on the NLG could only have resulted from excessive forward loads being placed on it. Although the pilot reported that he thought the NLG failed due to a preexisting mechanical failure of the upper torque link, the evidence clearly indicates that it was connected to the lower torque knee before the landing and that it failed in overload during the initial hard landing and subsequent separation from the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.