South St. Paul Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

St. Paul, Minnesota 55075
Friday, April 21, 2000 15:26 CDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The student pilot said that he landed hard on the airplane's left side. Upon landing, the left axle broke causing the left wingtip to touch the runway. Examination of the airplane showed the left main landing gear axle was broken at the gear leg mounting flange. The fracture ran around the circumference of the axle, flush against the flange, except for where it ran outside of a 7/16-inch wide spot weld observed on one side of the axle. The left landing gear box was pushed inward and aft. No other anomalies were revealed with the airplane. The airplane underwent an annual inspection on March 9, 2000. The airplane had logged 4 hours since the date of the annual inspection, to the time of the accident. The airplane manufacturer states that cracked landing gear axles should be replaced. The company provides no guidance regarding performing welds on their landing gear axles.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

the broken landing gear axle.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 4/21/2000
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 1526
Event Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Event City ST. PAUL
Event State MINNESOTA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 55075
Event Date Year 2000
Event Date Month 4
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude --
Event Location Longitude --
Event Location Airport SOUTH ST. PAUL
Event Location Nearest Airport ID SGS
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles 0
Degrees magnetic from airport 340
Airport Elevation 820
Weather Briefing Completeness Not pertinent
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1453 Central Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 275
Weather Observation Facility ID MSP
Elevation of weather observation facility 841
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 8
Time Zone of the weather observation CDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 0
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 0
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Clear
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling None
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) 16
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) -6
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 0
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 4
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30
Density Altitude (feet) 1034
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 1
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 447
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Apr 24 2000 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 526
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Jun 14 2001 4:45AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N1233D
NTSB Number CHI00LA118
Missing Aircraft Indicator N
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Cessna
Aircraft Model 170A
Aircraft Series Identifier 170A
Aircraft Serial Number 20116
Certified Max Gross Weight 2200
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 4
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Mar 9 2000 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 4
Airframe Hours 2907
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name LEWIS H. SCHERFF
Aircraft Owner Street Address 10410 COURT HOUSE BLVD.
Aircraft Owner City INVER GROVE HTS
Aircraft Owner State ME
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 55077
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) Personal
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code SGS
Departure City
Departure State
Departure Country
Departure Time 1400
Departure Time Zone CDT
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code
Destination City
Destination State
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Landing
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jun 14 2001 4:03AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 16
Runway Length 4001
Runway Width 100
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --