Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Meriden Markham Municipal Airp Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Meriden, Connecticut 06492
Friday, April 22, 2011 16:25 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student pilot entered the left downwind leg of the traffic pattern at the airport. While on the final leg of the traffic pattern, the airplane encountered vertical wind shear and landed hard on the runway. After the impact, the right main landing gear of the airplane collapsed, and the pilot taxied off the right side of the runway, coming to rest perpendicular to the runway. The most recent annual inspection was performed 3 months before the accident, and at that time the airplane had accumulated 13,962.8 hours of total time in service. The airplane was involved in another accident 2 months earlier that involved a hard landing. Thirteen days before the accident, the most recent maintenance was completed on the airplane that involved an inspection of the main landing gear. The airplane was found to be in airworthy condition, was signed off on that date, and at that time had 14,055.3 hours of total time in service. Examination of the inboard torque link lug of the right main landing gear revealed that it failed as a result of progressive fatigue cracking. The lugs are the subject of a Piper service bulletin recommending repetitive 100-hour recurrent inspections for cracking in the lugs. Although the complete loading history of the gear is unknown, it is likely that detectable indications of metal fatigue would have been present for more than 100 flight hours. There was no documentation in the airplane’s maintenance records that indicated that the factory service bulletin had been performed.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Maintenance personnel's inadequate inspection of the main landing gear, which resulted in a failure of the right main landing gear’s inboard torque link lug due to a fatigue fracture. Contributing to the accident was owner's lack of compliance with a factory service bulletin addressing landing gear inspections.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/22/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1625 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Meriden |
| Event State | CONNECTICUT |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 06492 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 413031N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0724946W |
| Event Location Airport | Meriden Markham Municipal Airp |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MMK |
| 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 | 103 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MMK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Broken |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.42 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 30055 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Windsor Locks FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 3 2012 4:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | gots |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2838D |
| NTSB Number | ERA11LA264 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-161 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7916463 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2200 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 13 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 13962 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PERSAUD MUNIDAT |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | WATERBURY |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06708-2219 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | PERSAUD MUNIDAT |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | WATERBURY |
| Operator State | CT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 06708-2219 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LZD |
| Departure City | Danielson |
| Departure State | CT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1610 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MMK |
| Destination City | Merident |
| Destination State | CT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 3 2012 4:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | gots |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 18 |
| Runway Length | 3100 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |