- Date
- April 22, 2009, 17:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Terrell, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N2330KLuscombe 8
- Defining event
- Taxi-from runway: Aircraft structural failure
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 13, 2009
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Dallas FSDO
- FAA report
- 20090422005859A
- Case key
- 73747
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 failure of the landing gear due to undetected corrosion.
Findings · 2
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 commercial pilot had just landed on a 2,630-foot-long by 30-foot-wide asphalt runway with a direct tailwind at 5 knots. The tailwheel was down and the airplane had slowed to a taxi speed when the right landing gear separated from the right landing gear leg, then both wingtips struck the ground causing substantial damage to both wings, and the fuselage. The pilot reported that he thinks the axle failed because of hidden corrosion inside the landing gear tubing that was not detectable during a normal preflight inspection.
Factual narrative
The commercial pilot had just landed on a 2,630-foot-long by 30-foot- wide asphalt runway with a direct tailwind at 5 knots. The tail wheel was down and the airplane had slowed to a taxi speed when the right landing gear separated from the right landing gear leg, then both wingtips struck the ground causing substantial damage to both wings, and the fuselage. The pilot reported that he thinks the axle failed because of hidden corrosion inside the landing gear tubing that was not detectable during a normal preflight inspection.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2330K
- Reported as
- Luscombe 8 (C)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 5057
- Airframe hours
- 615
- Engine
- Continental C-85-8-F, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 4, 2008 · 4 hours before
- Departed
- 17F · Terrell, TX
- Destination
- 17F · Terrell, TX
- Airport
- 1F7 · Airpark East Airport, runway 31, 2,630 × 30 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
- 76
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2
- Last flight review
- October 3, 2007
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,735 total · 522 in this make and model · 3,704 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- KHQZ, 9 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 4, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 627 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.