The Luscombe 8E was recently purchased by the pilot and delivered to Cortez Municipal Airport (KCEZ) by the flight instructor. After delivery, the pilot and flight instructor conducted flights over several days to familiarize the pilot with the airplane.
According to the pilot, on the day of the accident he conducted several landings without incident. The final takeoff and landing were conducted with the flight instructor manipulating the airplane’s flight controls. He said that the final landing was “very hard.”
The flight instructor reported that he landed on the runway centerline and as the airplane was rolling out, the right main landing gear collapsed.
He noted that the right seat position, where he was seated, did not have brakes installed.
During the landing, the right main landing gear collapsed. The airplane’s left wing was substantially damaged during the landing.
The failed right main landing gear was examined by the National Transportation Safety Board Materials Laboratory. That examination 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 tube thickness near the fracture had thinned from 0.040 inches to 0.025 inches.
On June 5, 2017, the FAA issued a special airworthiness information bulletin (SAIB), CE-17-14, to alert owners of several models of JGS Properties and Luscombe airplanes, including the model 8E, of a need for inspection to detect and correct corrosion inside the main landing gear legs.
According to the bulletin, internal surface treatment and regular inspection of the lower legs may help mitigate the corrosion-related gear failures. Compliance with a FAA SAIB is not mandatory for 14 CFR Part 91 operations.
The FAA recommended that owners and operators of the affected airplanes follow the inspection procedures outlined in 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.
The accident airplane did not appear to have a drain hole in this portion of the lower leg.
The FAA also urged using X ray or ultrasound inspection methods on the leg-to-axle joint to detect internal rust during initial or follow-on inspections of the gear leg.
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.
Probable Cause: Failure of the right main landing gear due to prolonged corrosion of the landing gear tube, which weakened the gear.
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This May 2023 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.
On the Luscombe with the axle failure I meant to say the RIGHT AXLE not the left.
I had the same thing happen to my 1947 Luscombe 8A. decades ago. I just completed a slight cross wind landing from the right and landed on the right wheel first. Had the axle failed at that point and 60+ MPH I may not be here to talk about it. Fortunately the failure occurred on the Taxi back to parking. The plane dropped like a rock., THUD! The left gear leg planted itself in the asphalt and the plane nosed over and ended in a prop strike. I notified the FAA of the gear failure but they did not issue any AD on the failure. The only thing holding the axle on was about 25% of the shaft before it failed. All Luscombe owners should be aware of this potential failure.
This discovery will help all who own the Aircraft.. The mechanics will have to be informed about it also…👍🤠
Luscombe issued a service notice 25 years a go, so there is not excuse for not adding the drain hole….This pilot owned another Luscombe ad had the drain hole added….
Another ‘Forest Gump’ moment, and a scrapped aircraft, with the pilot/owner losing a lot of $$$.!
Not only was there the SR, but the FAA issued SAIB CE-17-14 for it only 8 years ago. There is no excuse for someone purchasing one of these to be unaware of the issue.
One more reason people really should be joining the various type groups out there prior to purchasing an aircraft, especially an older one. If he had, I’m fairly certain he either would have read about this issue or someone would have mentioned it to him. Instead, more metal gets bent and a vintage aircraft probably never leaves the ground again.
If the ‘skeeters don’t get you, the ‘gators will.’ We in the radio biz use ‘weep holes’ on the legs of towers to prevent rust-out as described above. Should have been done at the factory.
/J