Rogue Valley International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Medford, Oregon 97504
Tuesady, June 18, 2002 19:50 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

After takeoff, the pilot discovered that the right main gear had not retracted. He unsuccessfully re-cycled the gear twice, and then deactivated the landing gear system in order to prevent porting of hydraulic fluid. Prior to landing, the pilot lowered the gear and insured that all of the landing gear green (down and locked) lights were illuminated, and that the gear in-transit light was extinguished. Although the touchdown and initial part of the landing roll were uneventful, as the aircraft decelerated to about 55 knots, the right main gear slowly collapsed. A post-accident inspection of the right main gear determined that the roll pin that holds the forward gear pivot pin in its slot in the gear trunnion had fractured, allowing the pivot pin to work its way loose over time, and ultimately resulting in a misaligned gear trunnion that jammed during the retract cycle. The jamming during the attempted retraction exacerbated the misalignment, and that, along with the looseness of the pivot pin, created a situation where a low load force was able to cause the gear to collapse during the landing roll. An inspection of the pin by the NTSB metallurgical laboratory revealed that there was no evidence of fatigue along the fracture surface, and that the fracture features were consistent with overstress. The investigation revealed no evidence of unusual wear or damage in the area of the pivot pin or its phenolic bearing, nor was there a record of any recent event that would have exposed the gear pivot mechanism to an overload situation.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The overstress failure, for undetermined reasons, of the right main landing gear pivot pin roll pin, leading to the misalignment of the gear trunnion and the collapse of the right main gear during the landing roll.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 6/18/2002
Event Day of the Week Tuesday
Time of Event 1950
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City Medford
Event State OREGON
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 97504
Event Date Year 2002
Event Date Month 6
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 422218N
Event Location Longitude 1225219W
Event Location Airport Rogue Valley International
Event Location Nearest Airport ID MFR
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 1330
Weather Briefing Completeness --
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) 19
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 5
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 10
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 11
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.07
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 4
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 14097
NTSB Notification Source FAA Operations Center
NTSB Notification Date Jun 18 2002 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 2000
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 Portland FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N564AC
NTSB Number SEA02LA095
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 Cessna
Aircraft Model 441
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 441-0147
Certified Max Gross Weight 9925
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 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection 100 Hour
Date of Last Inspection Jun 13 2002 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 53
Airframe Hours 9803
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Erikson Air-Crane, Inc.
Aircraft Owner Street Address PO Box 3247
Aircraft Owner City Central Point
Aircraft Owner State OR
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 97502-001
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) Business
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code TVL
Departure City So. Lake Tahoe
Departure State CA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1820
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code MFR
Destination City Medford
Destination State OR
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - roll
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Jul 16 2003 3:42PM
User who most recently changed record STAM
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 32
Runway Length 8798
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --