- Date
- March 17, 2010, 15:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Anchorage, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N3492CCessna 170B
- Defining event
- Taxi-to runway: Aircraft structural failure
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 1, 2010
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA FSDO-03
- FAA report
- 20100317029799A
- Case key
- 75531
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The structural failure of the right main landing gear leg, resulting in the collapse of the landing gear.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The airline transport pilot was on a personal flight in a ski-equipped airplane. The pilot said that he was taxiing for takeoff when the right main landing gear leg broke near where the leg exits the fuselage. When the leg broke the right wing impacted the ground, bending the wing from the aileron outward toward the tip. An examination of the break showed a single linear break perpendicular to the leading edge of the gear leg. The break was about 6 inches from the gear leg mounting bolt hole, at the widest portion of the gear leg. The gear leg was retained for metallurgical examination by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Factual narrative
On March 17, 2010, about 1530 Alaska daylight time, a ski-equipped Cessna 170B airplane, N3492C, sustained substantial damage when the main landing gear collapsed during taxi for takeoff, at Lake Hood Seaplane Base, Anchorage, Alaska. The airplane was being operated by the pilot as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal local flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The airline transport pilot and sole passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on March 18, the pilot said he was taxiing for takeoff on Lake Hood when the right main landing gear leg broke near where the leg exits the fuselage. He said when the leg broke the right wing impacted the ground, bending the wing from the aileron outward toward the tip. He said there were no mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident. During a meeting with the NTSB IIC on March 25, the pilot presented the broken gear leg to the IIC and an FAA air safety inspector. The break appeared to be a single linear break perpendicular to the leading edge of the gear leg. The break was about 6 inches from the gear leg mounting bolt hole, at the widest portion of the gear leg. No other damage was observed. The gear leg was retained by the FAA inspector for metallurgical examination.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3492C
- Reported as
- Cessna 170B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 26535
- Airframe hours
- 4,834
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-300 SER, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Piscoya Thomas G
- Registered owner
- Piscoya Thomas G
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 11, 2009
- Departed
- LHD · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- LHD · Anchorage, AK
- Airport
- LHD · Lake Hood
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 50
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 8, 2009
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 16,300 total · 1,600 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 50° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 37 °F, dew point 16 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.12 inHg
- Observed at
- LHD
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 2, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 847 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N3492C · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.