Piper PA 44-180 N3020M

Summary

On 9 June 2017 at about 01:10 local time, a Piper PA 44-180 registered N3020M was involved in an accident near Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States. 4 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 June 2017 at 01:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States

Nearest airport

Montgomery County Airpark (GAI)

Coordinates

39.1683, -77.1661

Aircraft

Piper PA 44-180

Registration

N3020M

Category

Airplane

Year built

1979

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Westminster → Gaithersburg

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA17LA204

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the right main landing gear trunnion bracket due to an undetermined overstress event.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the flight instructor, after an uneventful training flight, the airplane was returning to home base. After touchdown and during the landing roll, the airplane veered to the right of the centerline and stopped. The instructor exited the airplane and discovered that the right main landing gear had collapsed. Postaccident examination of the landing gear revealed that the right aft main landing gear trunnion bracket had failed and that the wing spar web was damaged. A visual examination of the fracture surfaces revealed that the landing gear trunnion bracket failed during an overstress event. A review of the logbooks did not reveal any recent maintenance to the gear assembly. The investigation could not determine when the overstress event occurred that resulted in the failure of right main landing gear trunnion bracket.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.