At the conclusion of an uneventful flight, the commercial pilot approached the runway at the airport in Fort Myers, Florida, for landing.
During touchdown, the Piper PA28 veered right and the left wing hit the runway before the airplane came to rest.
During the accident sequence the left main landing gear collapsed and the left wing and fuselage were substantially damaged.
Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed that the right main landing gear wheel assembly was free to rotate about the strut, and the bolt securing the torque link had fractured and had a corroded appearance.
Probable Cause: The fracture of the right main landing gear torque link bolt on landing, which resulted in the landing gear assembly rotating freely, the subsequent loss of directional control, and the landing gear collapsing.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This February 2020 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Our first plane, a retired trainer Cessna 150, had 3500 hours on the airframe when we bought it. We had noticed a subtle wrinkle on one side behind the right main gear, but didn’t think much of it, nor had a mechanic done a PPI. It was purchased out of state anyway, and such things weren’t commonly done in the early’70s—I just flew it home. Well, our first annual revealed bent and nearly fractured bolts. Cost to repair was about 1/3rd of what we’d paid for the plane. Oh well, live and learn. We sold the plane about a year later after Hubby got his license (I already had mine). The plane’s still registered in Illinois.
As a retired FAA (Fleet Air Arm UK engineer I find this sort of accident appalling. Flying at sea we are taught that good husbandry is essential, This clearly didn’t happen with this aircraft.
I find that private flying in the USA is frighteningly lax as is borne out with this aircraft.
Any corrosion of any sort should mean instant replacement.
Agree, and good common sense. But, alas, many private pilots just climb into their airplanes as though they their trusty old pickup truck and take off for the Wild Blue Yonder, then the cemetary where’s it’s real dark down there. /J
Read the report… too bad the suspect ‘failed bolt’ was not saved and examined in detail.
NOTE1. a truism in engineering… and maintenance… for all ‘steel’ [even most SStl] is…
Rusted = Busted
Yeah, true, but Stainless Steel doesn’t rust. That’s why it’s called ‘stainless.’ Yes? No? Maybe? Regards/J
There sure are a lot of landing gear failures reported in these accident cases. Why isn’t landing gear more robust than it apparently isn’t? They look like training wheels on a go-cart — light and flimsy. Just askin’…
Good point…I agree…to a point. The dainty landing gear on the 2011 Cessna 162 Skycatcher I fly, looks like it belongs on a golf bag push cart, not an airplane. But the gear on a PA-28R Arrow is pretty stout.
I’m thinking that in this case, a 40-year-old Arrow, with 8300+ hours, that lives in Florida, has been probably been flown hard (trainer perhaps?) & “put away wet”, a few times. Maybe a little more focus on the retractable gear during the 7-month-old annual would have uncovered signs of impending failure? Surprised an AD didn’t result from this.
I got told in A&P school that if mechanics were allowed to design airplanes, they’d never get off the ground. Engineers, in their wisdom, are allowed to do that. And prove to the Feds’ satisfaction, that they made sense.