Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Palo Alto Apt Of Scc Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Palo Alto, California 94303
Sunday, September 3, 2000 18:40 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported he landed the rental aircraft 'somewhat hard' and collapsed the left main landing gear of the fixed gear airplane. The landing gear casting is bolted to the aft side of the wing spar with 8 bolts, 4 in a rectangular pattern on the top and 4 in a similar pattern on the bottom. During postaccident examination of the bottom 4 bolts it was determined that 2 were absent and not located in the wing, the bolt head was missing on the third bolt, and the fourth bolt was loose. All 4 of the upper attach bolts were loose. There was fretting at the casting-to-spar interface and the holes were elongated. The 8 bolts on the right main landing gear attachment, which did not fail, were all loose. There are no Airworthiness Directives or Service Bulletins in effect regarding the landing gear to wing spar attachment on this model aircraft. The aircraft manufacturer's Inspection Checklist for the 100-hour inspection instructs maintenance personnel to: 'Inspect gear struts, attachments, torque links and bolts for condition and security.'
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of maintenance personnel to detect and correct loose attachment fasteners and fretting at the landing gear attachment during maintenance inspections.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/3/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1840 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | PALO ALTO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94303 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | PALO ALTO APT OF SCC |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PAO |
| 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 | 3 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1853 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 105 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SJC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 58 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2400 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 57 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 42 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10139 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 8 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2001 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6462C |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA330 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-161 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-161 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7816426 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2325 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 17 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3769 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JEROME HOFFMAN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | SAN FRANCISCO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94133 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | ZP AVIATION INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1903 EMBARCADERO RD. |
| Operator City | PALO ALTO |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 94303 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MRY |
| Departure City | MONTEREY |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1700 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PAO |
| 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 27 2001 3:43PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 30 |
| Runway Length | 2500 |
| Runway Width | 65 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |