Cessna 172 N539MT

Summary

On 6 June 2016 at about 19:00 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N539MT, operated by Mission Aviation Training Academy, was involved in an accident near Arlington, Washington, 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

6 June 2016 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Arlington, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Arlington Muni (AWO)

Coordinates

48.1608, -122.1592

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N539MT

Category

Airplane

Year built

1962

Engines

1

Operator

Mission Aviation Training Academy

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Friday Harbor → Arlington

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

GAA16CA286

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the airplane’s right steering rod end, which resulted in the pilot’s inability to maintain directional control.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot of the tricycle landing gear-equipped airplane, he made a normal landing, but the airplane began to veer left of the centerline during the landing roll. He corrected with right rudder and heard a "thump" as if something affixed to the airplane was being dragged, and the rudder steering became ineffective. He recalled that, with constant hard right rudder input, coupled with dynamic braking, he turned the airplane to the right, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane skidded to a stop. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. Photographs provided by the Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the right steering rod end had failed and that the bolts of the nose gear firewall mount were pulled from the firewall. The nose gear assembly had rotated more than 90° to the left and was found underneath the fuselage. The NTSB investigator-in-charge asked that the two additional airplanes in the operator's inventory be inspected. The operator found that the steering rod ends of the inspected airplanes were bent and showed signs of cracking between the threads. The steering bungees were visually inspected; however, they could not be thoroughly inspected without damaging the component.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.