Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Cherry Capital Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Traverse City, Michigan 49684
Wednesday, April 3, 1996 13:38 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During landing rollout, the left main landing gear collapsed, and the aircraft skidded to a stop. Examination of the landing gear revealed that the barrel lugs (used to attach the swinging lever to the main landing gear barrel) had failed. The fracture of the outboard lower lug exhibited clam shell marks typical of a fatigue crack. The fatigue crack emanated from a corrosion pit in the bore of the lug. The four bushings for the lower lugs of the barrel (replaced during overhaul) did not have the proper interference fit. The bushings did not have the proper applications of corrosion preventative applied to the surface of the bushings. Primer paint had not been applied during overhaul, and Mastinox was used instead of the wet primer that the manufacturer's procedures specified. During the course of the investigation, nine landing gears (with various numbers of total cycles since overhaul or manufacture) were inspected. The inspections revealed torn or missing rubber sealant used on bushing flanges, corrosion in the lug bores, and corrosion on the lug faces.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
improper use of procedures by maintenance personnel at an overhaul facility during overhaul of the landing gear, allowing corrosion to occur on the barrel lugs of the landing gear, which subsequently led to fatigue cracking of the lugs and eventual collapse of the gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 4/3/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1338 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | TRAVERSE CITY |
| Event State | MICHIGAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 49684 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | CHERRY CAPITAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TVC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 624 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1340 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TVC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 624 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2400 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 3 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 90 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 36 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5034 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 3 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2305 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 9:56AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N421MQ |
| NTSB Number | CHI96IA125 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ATR |
| Aircraft Model | 42 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 42 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 014 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 36870 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 49 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 11 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 174 |
| Airframe Hours | 18976 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SIMMONS AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1700 WEST 20TH ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | DFW AIRPORT |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75261 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ORD |
| Departure City | CHICAGO |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1139 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | TVC |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 36 |
| Runway Length | 5107 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |