Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Smith Reynolds Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Winston Salem, North Carolina 27115
Sunday, April 7, 2013 15:40 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While landing in gusty wind conditions, the fixed right main landing gear collapsed during rollout. Metallurgical examination of the right main landing gear trunion revealed extensive wear, fretting, hole elongation, and disturbed metal around the holes of the lower trunion flange. Additionally, two bolt heads were recovered from the lower flange holes and exhibited fatigue at their respective fracture surfaces. The bolt fatigue, in conjunction with the excessive wear and damage at the lower flange, was consistent with bolt looseness and wear over a period of time.
According to the airplane manufacturer, similar events involved airplanes used for student pilot training, such as the accident airplane, which experienced a previous hard landing that went unreported. The damage could then propagate over time, but it was difficult to tell if the initiating hard landing occurred months or years before the actual landing gear failure. However, mechanics commonly check the bolts during annual and 100-hour inspections. Specifically, they check the condition and security by verifying the proper exposed thread count and that the cotter pins were in place. The accident airplane's most recent annual inspection was completed about 3 months before the accident and the airplane had flown about 51 hours since that inspection. The two mechanics who performed the most recent annual inspection reported that the bolts were visually inspected and attempts were made to check retention and security of the hardware with tools; however, the nuts were in an area that was difficult to access with tools. It could not be determined if the wear began before or after the most recent annual inspection.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fatigue failure of the right main landing gear attach bolts due to an unreported hard landing at an unknown time, and subsequent collapse of the landing gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/7/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1540 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Winston Salem |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 27115 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 360806N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0801311W |
| Event Location Airport | Smith Reynolds Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | INT |
| 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 | 969 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1554 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | INT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 969 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 17 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.12 |
| 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) | 31493 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 27 2013 10:39AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3060B |
| NTSB Number | ERA13LA197 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7990139 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 11 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 51 |
| Airframe Hours | 6813 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TRIAD AIR INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | WINSTON SALEM |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 27103-5970 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | TRIAD AIR INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | WINSTON SALEM |
| Operator State | NC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 27103-5970 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | AVL |
| Departure City | Asheville |
| Departure State | NC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | INT |
| Destination City | Winston Salem |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 18 2013 1:53PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22 |
| Runway Length | 3938 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |