Piper PA46R-350T N463ST

Summary

On 30 December 2020 at about 21:00 local time, a Piper PA46R-350T registered N463ST was involved in an accident near York, Pennsylvania, 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

30 December 2020 at 21:00

Classification

Accident

Location

York, Pennsylvania, United States

Nearest airport

York (THV)

Coordinates

39.9170, -76.8730

Aircraft

Piper PA46R-350T

Registration

N463ST

Category

Airplane

Year built

2008

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tappahannock → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA21LA238

Nobody was injured.

An improper weld repair of the engine mount, which resulted in a fatigue failure of the mount and subsequent nose landing gear collapse. Contributing to the accident was maintenance personnel’s failure to accomplish the manufacturer’s service bulletin pertaining to engine mount inspections.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the landing rollout at the conclusion of a cross-country flight, the nose landing gear collapsed. A postaccident examination revealed the engine mount had failed, allowing the nose landing gear (NLG) actuator to impinge the firewall resulting in substantial damage. Further examination of the engine mount revealed that the right-side NLG actuator attachment foot failed from fatigue. The area had been previously repaired by welding, and old resolidified metal was found inside the crack surfaces. The previous weld repair was of poor quality and occurred prior to the owner/pilot purchasing the airplane. There was no documentation of the repair in the maintenance records. Inspection of the engine mount was addressed by a service bulletin (SB) issued by the airframe manufacturer, and there was no record of its compliance during the latest annual inspection of the airplane. The SB also called for the replacement of cracked engine mounts as repairs were not permitted.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.