Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pullman-Moscow Reg. Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pullman, Washington 99163
Tuesady, August 17, 2004 9:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a landing, just as the aircraft's two main wheels touched the surface of the runway, it suddenly jerked to the side and started to veer from the runway heading. The pilot therefore immediately added power and pulled the aircraft off the ground. He then climbed out to an altitude where he could visually inspect the gear legs and evaluate his situation. When he looked at the gear legs, he discovered that the left main gear strut oleo had come out of its housing, and the gear strut structure was hanging from the aircraft by two of its attach points. He therefore circled the area for awhile, waiting for emergency vehicles to get in place at the airport prior to his attempt to land on the remaining main gear. Once the equipment was in place, he landed on the grass alongside of the paved runway. The aircraft touched down on the right main gear, and the pilot kept the other gear leg elevated as long as possible. Eventually, as the aircraft slowed, the left gear strut dug into the terrain and collapsed. A post-accident inspection of the gear system determined that the landing gear shock strut retaining nut safety clip (snap ring) had failed, thus allowing the shock strut retaining nut to back off of its threads. Without this retaining nut in place, the oleo piston was free to drop out of its housing, leaving the landing gear only partially attached to the fuselage.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of a landing gear oleo retaining nut safety clip (snap ring) at an unknown point in time, leading to the partial separation of the landing gear strut while in flight, and the full collapse of the strut during the subsequent landing. Factors include the grassy terrain that the pilot chose to execute the landing on.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/17/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Pullman |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99163 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 464455N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1170808W |
| Event Location Airport | Pullman-Moscow Reg. |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PUW |
| 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 | 2555 |
| 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) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17233 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 17 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 27 2005 3:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Spokane FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N11872 |
| NTSB Number | SEA04LA162 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Universal Moulded Pdts. |
| Aircraft Model | Monocoach |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5012 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| 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 | May 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2 |
| Airframe Hours | 1904 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Carsons Investments Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1947 McCulloch Blvd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lake Havasu City |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 86403 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | William C. Piper |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. Box 93 |
| Operator City | Porthill |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 83853 |
| 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 | 1S1 |
| Departure City | Porthill |
| Departure State | ID |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 745 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PUW |
| Destination City | Pullman |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 23 |
| Runway Length | 6730 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |