Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Phoenix Deer Valley Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Phoenix, Arizona 85027
Sunday, September 4, 2011 9:20 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The private pilot and certified flight instructor (CFI) were practicing a series of landings. The CFI said that the second and third landings were short field landings and were not excessively hard. During the landing roll on the third landing, the nose of the airplane lowered, and the CFI suspected a collapse of the oleo strut. The CFI took control of the airplane and taxied down the runway. The CFI stated that, during the taxi, he noted nothing irregular with the handling of the airplane and informed the tower air traffic controller that this was going to be a full stop landing. After contacting the ground controller, the CFI added power, and noticed that the steering had failed, so he attempted to use differential thrust to turn the airplane. He then heard the propellers contact the ground and immediately shut down both engines. After exiting the airplane, he noticed that the nose gear was extended forward and resting against the most forward fuselage rib in the wheel well. A postaccident examination revealed a fractured and separated drag link and hydraulic fluid leaking from the wheel well. Examination of the fractured surfaces revealed rough matte gray features consistent with an overstress fracture.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper flare and hard landing, which resulted in the failure of the nose landing gear drag link in overstress.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/4/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 920 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Phoenix |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85027 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 334108N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1120511W |
| Event Location Airport | Phoenix Deer Valley Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | DVT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1478 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DVT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1478 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| 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) | 36 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.83 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KDVT 041553Z AUTO 17008KT 10SM CLR 34/10 A2982 RMK |
| 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) | 29649 |
| NTSB Notification Source | AWP 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 | Mar 22 2012 10:16AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N316PA |
| NTSB Number | WPR11LA471 |
| 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 | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-44-180 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4496125 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| 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 | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 26 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 20 |
| Airframe Hours | 4382 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BIRD ACQUISITION LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 62 WALNUT ST FL 3 |
| Aircraft Owner City | WELLESLEY HILLS |
| Aircraft Owner State | MA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 02481-2109 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | BIRD ACQUISITION LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 62 WALNUT ST FL 3 |
| Operator City | WELLESLEY HILLS |
| Operator State | MA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 02481-2109 |
| Operator Code | FQAS |
| 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 | DVT |
| Departure City | Phoenix |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 740 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | DVT |
| Destination City | Phoenix |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 13 2012 6:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 07R |
| Runway Length | 8197 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |