Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Palestine Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Palestine, Texas 75882
Saturday, May 18, 2002 18:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the landing roll when the nose wheel made contact with the runway, the pilot felt a "hard bump followed by a violent jerking motion to the left." The airplane departed the runway before coming to rest. Removal of the engine cowling and examination of the engine mount revealed that the right side of the nose gear actuator aft attach point had separated from the tube cluster on the mount assembly. The actuator was found pushed aft into the firewall, and a section of the firewall, located aft of the nose landing gear actuator, was crushed upward and aft into the forward baggage compartment. According to the manufacturer's representative engineer, the structural integrity at the base of the engine mount was compromised and would require major repair." Photographs and stereoscopic magnification of the separated surface of the nose gear actuator aft attach point showed signatures consistent with overload. Service Bulletin (SB) No. 1103 was issued by the manufacturer for inspection and/or replacement of the engine mount. The SB had not been performed on the accident airplane; however, the owner/pilot reported that it was scheduled to be performed at the next scheduled maintenance visit.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the nose gear actuator aft attach point from the tube cluster on the engine mount assembly. A contributing factor was the owner's non-compliance with the service bulletin for inspection/replacement of the engine mount.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/18/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1830 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Palestine |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 75882 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 314647N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0954223W |
| Event Location Airport | Palestine Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PSN |
| 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 | 423 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 75 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.15 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13983 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 20 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 30 2003 9:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Dallas, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N529TX |
| NTSB Number | FTW02LA165 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-46-350P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4622045 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4318 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 15 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | LAWTX Travel, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1225 North Loop W STE 810 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Houston |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 77008 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | HOU |
| Departure City | Houston |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1730 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PSN |
| Destination City | Palestiine |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 7 2003 6:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 35 |
| Runway Length | 5005 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |