Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Anchorage, Alaska 99502
Saturday, March 19, 2005 16:15 AST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The private certificated pilot was conducting short-field landings with the wheels extended on a frozen lake in a wheel/ski-equipped airplane. On the ninth landing, the main landing gear collapsed, and the airplane settled onto its belly. The pilot said both landing gear A-frame type gear assemblies rotated outward and upward, as the airplane settled onto the ice. He said that the touchdown was not hard, and the common point of failure was at the center, fuselage-mounted spring shock assembly. Each landing gear assembly has an extended arm that attaches in the center of the fuselage to the bottom end of a vertically mounted oleo shock. The left gear arm attaches to the oleo lug by a clevis bolt that is installed front-to-back. The bolt also retains the top end of two oval-shaped metal link plates that are positioned vertically at the front and aft side of the oleo attach lug. A clevis bolt, through the bottom hole of each link, retains a spacer and the right landing gear extended attaching arm. Each clevis bolt uses a tension castle nut, with a cotter pin for security. The aft link plate had extensive elongation of the upper bolt hole radius. The forward link plate upper bolt hole was fractured, and had opening and elongation of a segment of the bolt hole radius. The upper clevis bolt was found at the scene, but its castle nut and cotter pin were not located. The clevis bolt was bent along its span. The threaded portion of the bolt had flattening of the threads about 1/3 of its circumference, and partial threads on the remaining 2/3 of its circumference, with slight necking of the bolt end. An FAA aerospace engineer examined the recovered parts and reported, in part, that: "...the cotter pin failed in service, or was never installed, and the shear nut loosened and fell off the aft end of the upper bolt, or was never installed." The airplane had accrued 11 hours since the most recent annual inspection.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

A main landing gear collapse during the landing touch down due to a non-secured clevis bolt at the common attach point on the landing gear oleo shock.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 3/19/2005
Event Day of the Week Saturday
Time of Event 1615
Event Time Zone Atlantic Standard Time
Event City Anchorage
Event State ALASKA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 99502
Event Date Year 2005
Event Date Month 3
MidAir Collision Indicator --
On Ground Collision occurred ? --
Event Location Latitude 611830N
Event Location Longitude 1502719W
Event Location Airport --
Event Location Nearest Airport ID --
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport Off Airport/Airstrip
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
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) 20
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 3
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) --
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) --
Variable Wind Indicator --
Wind Speed (knots) --
Wind Velocity Indicator Calm
Wind Gust Indicator Unknown
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) 18720
NTSB Notification Source FAA Regional Operations Center
NTSB Notification Date Mar 19 2005 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1710
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Dec 20 2005 6:27AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\JOHB
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office FAA-AL-ANC FSDO 03

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N67AT
NTSB Number ANC05LA051
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 Arctic Aircraft Company
Aircraft Model S-1B2
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 1018
Certified Max Gross Weight 1650
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 2
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Aug 1 2004 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 11
Airframe Hours 1131
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Bill L. Brown
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Anchorage
Aircraft Owner State AK
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 99516
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 Yes
Departure Airport Code PAMR
Departure City Anchorage
Departure State AK
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1555
Departure Time Zone AST
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 - roll
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Sep 23 2005 2:29PM
User who most recently changed record PETL
Since inspection or accident Last Inspection
Event Location Runway Number and Location --
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --