CEN13LA209

The student pilot performed two touch-and-go landings without incident. During the third landing, the airplane touched down on the main landing gear, and, as the pilot brought the airplane's nose down, the nosewheel collapsed. A postaccident examination of the failed nose landing gear fork revealed that the final overload fracture of the fork started at a fatigue crack at the upper shoulder of the fork, which had propagated for a period of time before the final fracture. The material used to manufacture the fork met the specified engineering requirements.

On March 26, 2013, about 1430 central daylight time, a Cessna 152 airplane, N48693, had its nose landing gear fork fail during landing on runway 34 (7,000 feet by 146 feet, dry grooved asphalt/concrete) at the Easterwood Field Airport (CLL), near College Station, Texas. The solo student pilot, who was the only occupant, was uninjured. The airplane sustained substantial firewall damage. The airplane was registered to and operated by Central Texas Flight Training Inc. under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight. Day visual flight rules (VFR) conditions prevailed for the flight, which was not operated on a VFR flight plan. The flight originated from the Draughon-Miller Central Texas Regional Airport (TPL), near Temple, Texas, about 1300. The student pilot indicated that he had flown the airplane from TPL and had performed two touch and go landings at CLL without incident. During the third landing, the airplane touched down on the main landing gear and as he brought the airplane's nose down, the nose impacted the runway. The student pilot exited the airplane and observed that the nose wheel collapsed. At 1453, the recorded weather at CLL was: Wind 360 degrees at 11 knots gusting to 16 knots; visibility 10 statute miles; sky condition clear; temperature 16 degrees C; dew point -4 degrees C; altimeter 30.40 inches of mercury. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector examined and removed the broken nose landing gear fork, part number 0442503-7. That fork was shipped to a FAA airworthiness specialist in Wichita, Kansas, who oversaw an examination of the fork at a Cessna materials laboratory. The examination, in part, revealed that the final overload fracture of the fork started at a fatigue crack at the upper shoulder of the fork, which had propagated for a period of time prior to the final fracture. Another fatigue crack was also observed on the upper shoulder at the other side of the fork. This crack had not propagated to a critical length and did not break off during the final overload fracture. The material used to manufacture the fork met the fork's specified engineering requirements.