Robert Mueller Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Austin, Texas 78723
Friday, November 27, 1998 14:05 CST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

During the landing roll, the nose gear settled onto the runway, and the aircraft veered hard to the right. Application of the left brake had no effect. The airplane skidded, exited the runway, struck a runway marker, and collapsed the nose landing gear. The steering actuator had failed, the hydraulic fluid was lost from the steering actuator, and the fuselage received structural damage. The steering actuator assembly, p/n 1501-4, had accumulated 5,938.0 hours since new and had not been repaired or overhauled. Examination of the nose gear steering actuator cylinder by the metallurgist revealed that the cylinder fracture was the result of fatigue cracking initiated by an abrupt machining transition from the 45 degree thread ring chamfer to the straight wall of the cylinder. The engineering drawings appear to depict the radius at the fatigue origin as a continuation of the 0.03 inch to 0.06 inch radius adjacent to the fracture. However, the drawing is not clear on the specific intent of the transition between the nearby radius and the internal threads for the nut.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The steering actuator fatigue failure resulting from inadequate procedure documentation for the manufacturing process.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 11/27/1998
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 1405
Event Time Zone Central Standard Time
Event City AUSTIN
Event State TEXAS
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 78723
Event Date Year 1998
Event Date Month 11
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude --
Event Location Longitude --
Event Location Airport ROBERT MUELLER MUNICIPAL
Event Location Nearest Airport ID AUS
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 632
Weather Briefing Completeness Not pertinent
Investigator's weather source Pilot
Time of the weather observation 0
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 0
Weather Observation Facility ID
Elevation of weather observation facility 0
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 0
Time Zone of the weather observation
Lighting Conditions Night/Dark
Lowest Ceiling Height 7000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 0
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Unknown
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
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) 21
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 17
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 140
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 5
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30
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 3
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 1553
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Dec 2 1998 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 900
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Feb 23 2001 1:56PM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N787WB
NTSB Number FTW99LA045
Missing Aircraft Indicator N
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Lockheed
Aircraft Model L-1329
Aircraft Series Identifier L-1329
Aircraft Serial Number 5210
Certified Max Gross Weight 445000
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 11
Number of Engines 4
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection AAIP
Date of Last Inspection May 21 1998 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 96
Airframe Hours 5938
ELT Installed Unknown
ELT Activated Unknown
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name BANAIR, INC.
Aircraft Owner Street Address 5322 ASHBROOK DRIVE
Aircraft Owner City HOUSTON
Aircraft Owner State TX
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 77081
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 None
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 --
Indicates Domestic or International Flight --
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail --
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Business
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code HOU
Departure City HOUSTON
Departure State TX
Departure Country
Departure Time 1935
Departure Time Zone CST
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code AUS
Destination City
Destination State
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight --
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Feb 23 2001 1:56PM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 13R
Runway Length 7269
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --