Luscombe 8E N2515K

Summary

On 19 May 2023 at about 00:00 local time, a Luscombe 8E registered N2515K was involved in an accident near Cortez, Colorado, 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

19 May 2023 at 00:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Cortez, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Cortez Muni (CEZ)

Coordinates

37.3030, -108.6280

Aircraft

Luscombe 8E

Registration

N2515K

Category

Airplane

Year built

1947

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN23LA208

Nobody was injured.

Failure of the right main landing gear due to prolonged corrosion of the landing gear tube, which weakened the gear.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The conventional geared airplane’s right main landing gear collapsed during landing and the airplane’s left wing sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that the flight instructor performed the final landing and that the landing was very hard. The flight instructor reported that he landed on centerline and as the airplane was rolling out the right main landing gear collapsed. He noted that there were no brakes in the right seat pilot station where he was located. Metallurgical examination of the failed landing gear revealed corrosion on the inside of the main landing gear tube in the area where it was welded to the wheel axle. The corrosion progressively thinned the leg tube walls over time and caused pitting and microcracking on the tube interior. The combination of missing material, pitting, and microcracks led to an overstress fracture of the leg at this location on the final landing, which led to two other subsequent overstress fractures. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a special airworthiness information bulletin (SAIB), CE-17-14, to alert operators of this and other similar model airplanes of the need to inspect and address corrosion issues on main landing gear. The SAIB recommended following the procedures of the Don Luscombe Aviation History Foundation Service Recommendation No. 4, dated Jan. 22, 1996, which provided instructions for installing a drain hole in the lower portion of the leg, performing repetitive inspections of the gear legs for corrosion, and cleaning and sealing the gear legs’ internal surfaces. Compliance with the SAIB is not mandatory. Limited maintenance records were available during the investigation; however, the most recent annual inspection entry did not indicate that the landing gear were inspected for corrosion. The fractured main landing gear did not have drain holes as noted in the service recommendation, indicating that that procedures in the service recommendation had not been performed. Based on the available evidence the accident was the result of failure of the right main landing gear leg due to weakening from prolonged internal corrosion of the landing gear tube, which weakened the leg.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.