- Date
- August 15, 1993, 12:30 local (20:30 UTC)
- Place
- Mt. Deborah, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N42DCHelio H-295
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 26, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19930815032749A
- Case key
- 2410
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
Failure of the right main landing gear leg due to the improper major repair performed on the gear leg by some unknown maintenance person(s).
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
During the landing roll at a remote site the right main landing gear collapsed and the right wing dragged the ground. Examination revealed that the right main landing gear leg, part number 250 040 451 1, failed at the upper weld. Further examination revealed an undocumented previous repair at the failed area. It was found that the gear leg metal had been improperly heat treated following that repair.
Factual narrative
On August 15, 1993, at 1230 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Helio H 295 airplane, N42DC, operated by Wright Air Service, Inc., of Fairbanks, Alaska, experienced a collapsed main landing gear and dragged a wing while landing at a remote hunting strip near Mount Deborah, Alaska, and about 40 miles southwest of Delta Junction, Alaska. The airline transport pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged. The positioning flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, departed another nearby remote strip at about 1200. Visual meteorological conditions existed, and a company VFR flight plan was filed.
The pilot stated that during the landing roll the right main landing gear collapsed, and the right wing hit the ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N42DC
- Reported as
- Helio H-295
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1454
- Airframe hours
- 2,726
- Engine
- Lycoming GO-480-G1D6, 295 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Bursiel, Robert P., doing business as Wright Air Service, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Bursiel, Robert P.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 2, 1993 · 93 hours before
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
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
- 44
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 15,300 total · 5,000 in this make and model · 15,000 as pilot in command · 200 in the last 90 days · 75 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F
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 N42DC · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.