- Date
- March 14, 2002, 16:58 local (22:58 UTC)
- Place
- Greenville, MS
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N6753LBeech C24R
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 23, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Jackson FSDO - 07
- FAA report
- 20020314003569I
- Case key
- 54376
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
An overload failure of the nose gear assembly for undetermined reasons.
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
The airplane's nose wheel and nose gear housing fell onto the runway during takeoff. The pilot returned to the airport and executed an emergency gear-up landing on a foamed runway. Examination of the outboard nose gear housing flange revealed it was completely fractured approximately 300 degrees in the area where the nose gear yoke assembly connects to the housing. The left and right tow-limit stop bolts for the nose gear were bent. There was no record of previous damage or a known overstress event involving the nose gear assembly. Scanning electron microscope examination of the fractures revealed no evidence of fatigue. Laboratory-induced overstress of the component produced a fracture surface similar in morphology to the examined fractures.
Factual narrative
On March 14, 2002, at 1658 central standard time, a Beech C24R, N6753L, registered to and operated by the private pilot, landed gear-up during an emergency landing following a separation of the nose gear assembly at Mid Delta Regional Airport in Greenville, Mississippi. The personal flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with a VFR flight plan filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The pilot was not injured, and the airplane sustained minor damage. The flight departed Mid Delta Regional Airport in Greenville, Mississippi, about 1220.
The airplane's nose wheel and nose gear housing fell onto the runway during takeoff and were retrieved by persons on the ground. The pilot maneuvered in the area for hours to burn off fuel, then returned to the airport and executed an emergency gear-up landing on a foamed runway.
Examination of the airplane revealed minor damage to the lower fuselage skin. The nose wheel and nose gear housing were separated, and the nose gear yoke assembly was fractured. The left and right tow-limit stop bolts for the nose gear was bent, and the rod end attached to the nose gear collar was bent. There was no record of previous damage or a known overstress event involving the nose gear assembly.
Metallurgical examination of the nose gear assembly was performed by the National Transportation Safety Board, Office of Research and Engineering, Materials Laboratory Division, Washington, D.C. Examination of the outboard flange of the nose gear housing revealed the flange was completely fractured approximately 300 degrees in the area where the nose gear yoke assembly connects to the housing. Examination of the fracture surface revealed the crack initiated from one of three equally spaced bolt holes in the outboard flange. The fracture propagated in both directions circumferentially from one hole and terminated at the outboard surface of the flange. A longitudinal fracture propagated from another of the three bolt holes and terminated at the circumferential fracture.
Scanning electron microscope examination of the circumferential fracture and the longitudinal fracture revealed no evidence of fatigue. Laboratory-induced overstress of the component produced a fracture surface similar in morphology to the circumferential and longitudinal fractures.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6753L
- Reported as
- Beech C24R
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- MC-740
- Airframe hours
- 3,213
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Earnest Doyle Mosley
- Registered owner
- Doyle E Mosley
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 1, 2001
- Departed
- GLH · Greenville, MS
- Destination
- DHN · Dothan, AL
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- GLH · Mid Delta Regional, runway 18R, 7,019 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 61
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- October 1, 2001
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,800 total · 3,000 in this make and model · 12 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.73 inHg
- Observed at
- GLH
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 21, 2003, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.7 MB 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.