Piper PA 24 N5028P

Summary

On 17 March 2019 at about 15:10 local time, a Piper PA 24 registered N5028P was involved in an accident near Reno, Nevada, United States. 3 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

17 March 2019 at 15:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Reno, Nevada, United States

Nearest airport

Reno/Stead (RTS)

Coordinates

39.6700, -119.8800

Aircraft

Piper PA 24

Registration

N5028P

Category

Airplane

Year built

1958

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Carson City → Reno

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR19LA098

Nobody was injured.

Failure of the engine mount due to internal corrosion and wall thinning, which resulted in a loss of directional control and nose gear collapse during landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

At the conclusion of an uneventful flight, the pilot verified that the landing gear were down and locked after he observed a green indication on the instrument panel. During landing, the airplane touched down normally on the main landing gear but veered left when the nose landing gear contacted the runway, and departed the runway edge. The left wing impacted an airport sign and the airplane spun to the left. As the airplane slid in gravel, the nose landing gear and right main landing gear collapsed, substantially damaging the airplane. The accident pilot purchased the airplane several months before the accident after the airplane had been parked mostly outside for 27 years. He flew the airplane about 15 hours before the accident flight. Postaccident examination of the nose landing gear revealed that the assembly was mostly intact except for the engine mount, which had failed where it supported the nose landing gear. The engine mount tubes displayed moderate to heavy corrosion deposits and wall thinning. The investigation could not determine the exact order in which the tubes failed; however, as the tubes were integral to the nose landing gear support, it is likely that the corrosion and wall thinning decreased the strength of the tubes and resulted in their failure when the nose landing gear was under load after touchdown. As the investigation did not find any preimpact anomalies with the nose landing gear steering system, the engine mount failure likely compromised the pilot's steering capabilities after touchdown before the collapse occurred. As the wear and corrosion on the tubes was mostly internal, it could not be determined whether the mechanic who most recently serviced the airplane would have recognized their condition.  

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.