Orlando Sanford Int. Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Sanford, Florida 32773
Thursday, June 5, 2008 8:40 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

While practicing takeoffs and landings with a student, the flight instructor noted a "shimmy" in the nose landing gear during the first three landings, but did not think it was out of the ordinary. During the fourth landing, the student pilot "did not flare enough, which resulted in a three-point landing" and a subsequent "porpoise" of the airplane. The airplane bounced two or three times before he took control of the airplane and taxied clear of the runway. During the next landing, performed by the instructor, the nose landing gear collapsed. Postincident inspections conducted by the operator revealed that the nose landing gear strut weldment had cracked. The incident prompted the flight school to inspect their entire fleet of Cirrus SR20 airplanes, of which nine others exhibited cracking in the same location as the incident airplane. The airframe manufacturer subsequently issued a service bulletin mandating inspections of the nose landing gear strut for cracking. The service bulletin outlined the procedures to detect cracking, and specified corrective action that included replacement of the nose landing gear strut with a redesigned part if cracking over 0.19 inches was observed.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

A failure of the nose landing gear strut weldment.

Event Information

Type of Event Incident
Event Date 6/5/2008
Event Day of the Week Thursday
Time of Event 840
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City Sanford
Event State FLORIDA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 32773
Event Date Year 2008
Event Date Month 6
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 284636N
Event Location Longitude 0811407W
Event Location Airport Orlando Sanford Int. Airport
Event Location Nearest Airport ID SFB
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles 0.5
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation 55
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 837 Eastern Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 360
Weather Observation Facility ID SFB
Elevation of weather observation facility 55
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 1
Time Zone of the weather observation EST
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) 27
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 22
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 190
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 4
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.09
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) 24973
NTSB Notification Source FAA Southern ROC
NTSB Notification Date Jun 6 2008 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Feb 10 2009 10:21PM
User who most recently changed record grol
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Orlando, FL

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N475DA
NTSB Number NYC08IA206
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? No
Damage Minor
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Cirrus
Aircraft Model SR20
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 1800
Certified Max Gross Weight 3000
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats 2
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats 2
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 May 14 2008 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 769
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Delta Connection Academy, Inc.
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Sanford
Aircraft Owner State FL
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 32773
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Delta Connection Academy, Inc.
Operator Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Sanford
Operator State FL
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 32773
Operator Code --
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? No
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) Instructional
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code SFB
Departure City Sanford
Departure State FL
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 835
Departure Time Zone EDT
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code SFB
Destination City Sanford
Destination State FL
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - flare/touchdown
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 25 2009 5:52PM
User who most recently changed record muzd
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 09C
Runway Length 3578
Runway Width 75
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --