During maintenance at the airport in Chesterfield, Virginia, a mechanic was asked to evaluate damage to the Tecnam P2010’s right wing.
Further inspection of the wing and its internal components revealed that the rear wing spar was cracked, and several wing skin rivets had sheared. The right wing strut and right main landing gear strut were also bent.
The flight club that operated the airplane reported that 22 pilots had flown the airplane in the recent past and no pilot admitted to any significant event during landing.
The substantial damage to the right wing was likely the result of a hard landing however, due to the several flights flown with the damage, the investigation was not able to determine a specific flight during which the hard landing may have occurred.
Probable Cause: A hard landing that resulted in substantial damage to the airplane’s right wing.
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This October 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.
Nobody except me will ever fly my airplane…..It’s too pretty…..RV 9-A
Wing Nuts Flying Club, indeed. You couldn’t make that name up in this situation. Perhaps what should happen is that all members who flew the aircraft in the suspected time period be assessed a portion of the repairs in cash, which may root out the offenders. Any pilot flying the aircraft after the hard landing event is just as guilty for failure to perform a proper preflight inspection. I don’t see why insurance would pay for this. The person(s) who failed to report placed other pilots in danger; it is hard to envision any competent pilot – or even a student – missing that damage.
“Substantial damage means damage or failure which adversely affects the structural strength, performance, or flight characteristics of the aircraft, and which would normally require major repair or replacement of the affected component.” Substantial damage does not include: engine failure or damage limited to an engine if only one engine fails or is damaged, bent fairings or cowling, dented skin, small punctured holes in the skin or fabric, ground damage to rotor or propeller blades, and damage to landing gear, wheels, tires, flaps, engine accessories, brakes, or wingtips. Ref: https://shackelford.law/news-aviation/the-dos-and-do-nots-of-aircraft-accident-and-incident-reporting/
That plane should not have flown after the accident that caused the damage. The first pilot after the incident should have caught the damage in hi/her pre flight. We are apparently not training our students how to perform a thorough pre flight. Shame on some of the CFI’s and shame on all the pilots who flew the plane after the incident.
One can not compare these new heavy carbon fiber construction aircraft to a C-150/152/172
They were built strong and lasted through heavy student training.
I did land a 150 so hard that the ELT went off. An inspection revealed no damage other than my pride!…..Cessna built 32,000 150/152 aircraft from 1959-1985 and 22,000 are still flying
Utterly irresponsible, downright criminal. Damage an airplane and sneak away hoping nobody will notice – FAA ought to revoke all this person’s certificates forever. Probably result in civil charges as well if someone got hurt or killed.
That’s what insurance is for, to fix stuff like this. The club’s records should be able to show who flew the airplane and when. If they don’t, time for a new dispatch system. Sounds like they need to be doing post-flight inspections as well as pre-flight inspections AND require better pre-flight inspection training, somebody should have caught this before the very next flight, let alone 22 flights later.
So much for walk-around visual inspection of the machine before taking off in it. Pilots subsequent to the damage are lucky to be alive.
Regards/J
Looking at the NTSB photos I wonder how this aircraft was being operated? No one saw the obvious damage? A bent wing and metal damage?
Personally i have caught damage to an aircraft by the last pilot flying. over the years….
1. damaged prop tip
2.cracked wheel pant from a hard landing
3. tire flat on bottom and deliberately rolled to hide the damage
4. wing damage
I suppose the pilots flying this aircraft did not do a thorough walk around??
This appears to be major damage and will cost this club big bucks
On the good side it is lucky they finally saw the damage as this wing could have come off
and caused a fatal accident !
Sad!
And now that this is splattered on GAN, they’re not about to confess.
Not sure what anyone is supposed to learn from this report.
What we’re all supposed to learn from this report is to alert the unaware that other operators may not be honest or forthcoming about equipment damage they caused and hope it isn’t noticed. Happens in every walk of life. Lesson learned: walk around the airplane and take a hard look at EVERYTHIING before climbing behind the stick for a spin which could take you to the grave is such problems as described exist.
Regards/J
Well, the word ‘ EVERYTHING ‘ is a loaded word in this situation isn’t it?
A full mechanics inspection? Unscrewing all inspection panels on the fuselage? How far should any pilot go, even after a major overhaul or annual?
The best answer I’ve heard to the question ‘ what should a pilot be looking for on the pre-flight ? ‘ is ‘ YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR THE OBVIOUS ‘.
Not very satisfying though, is it.?