Portland International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Portland, Oregon 97218
Tuesady, February 9, 2010 12:02 PST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

During takeoff roll, with the airplane between 60 to 70 knots, the inner tube in the nose gear tire failed, causing the tire to flatten and skid and the nose gear to subsequently collapse. The pilot successfully aborted the takeoff and steered the airplane to a stop onto grass just off the right side of the runway. A postaccident examination of the airplane's nose landing gear retract mechanism revealed that the bolt which connects the mechanism's inboard and outboard arms in place had failed in overstress, likely due to the skidding nose gear tire. The failure of the bolt allowed both arms to pivot enough to keep the nose gear retract brace assembly from locking the nose gear in the extended position, which allowed the nose landing gear to collapse.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The overstress failure of a nose landing gear mechanism bolt, which precluded the nose gear retract brace assembly from locking the nose gear in the extended position and allowed the nose landing gear to collapse. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the nose gear tire's inner tube.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 2/9/2010
Event Day of the Week Tuesday
Time of Event 1202
Event Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Event City Portland
Event State OREGON
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 97218
Event Date Year 2010
Event Date Month 2
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 453519N
Event Location Longitude 1223551W
Event Location Airport Portland International Airport
Event Location Nearest Airport ID PDX
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles 0
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation 30
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1153 Pacific Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID PDX
Elevation of weather observation facility 30
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation PST
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 3000
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Few
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) 8
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 4
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) --
Variable Wind Indicator --
Wind Speed (knots) --
Wind Velocity Indicator Calm
Wind Gust Indicator --
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.03
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) 27524
NTSB Notification Source Regional Operations Center
NTSB Notification Date --
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Sep 27 2010 8:53PM
User who most recently changed record stam
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N3700N
NTSB Number WPR10LA147
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? No
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name BEECH
Aircraft Model 58
Aircraft Series Identifier P
Aircraft Serial Number TJ-311
Certified Max Gross Weight 6200
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 4
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Oct 20 2009 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 10
Airframe Hours 2522
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type Unknown
Aircraft Owner Name Challson Aircraft LLC
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Lake Oswego
Aircraft Owner State OR
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 97035
Operator is an individual? Yes
Operator Name John H Johnson
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Lake Oswego
Operator State OR
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 97035
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) Personal
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code PDX
Departure City Portland
Departure State OR
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1200
Departure Time Zone PST
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code SUN
Destination City Hailey
Destination State ID
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight --
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Sep 27 2010 8:08PM
User who most recently changed record stam
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 10L
Runway Length 8000
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --