- Date
- October 4, 2021, 16:08 local (22:08 UTC)
- Place
- Watkins, CO
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3027BCessna 195
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Sys/Comp malf/fail (non-power)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Denver FSDO
- FAA report
- 20211004016669A
- Case key
- 104042
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 separation of the left main landing gear spring during landing roll due to a preexisting fatigue crack.
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 pilot reported he was landing from a personal flight in his tailwheel-equipped airplane when it suddenly swerved to the right shortly after the tailwheel contacted the runway surface during the landing roll. The pilot applied left rudder and brake to regain directional control, but the airplane veered off the right side of the runway into a level grass area. The left main landing gear (MLG) spring fractured where the spring entered the fuselage, which resulted in the airplane coming to rest on the lower left fuselage in a left wing down attitude. The left wing, left aileron, and the fuselage sustained substantial damage. Postaccident examination of the left MLG spring revealed a preexisting fatigue crack that initiated from the upper forward edge of the spring adjacent to the fuselage. The fatigue crack likely reduced the overall strength of the landing gear spring which resulted in its separation during the landing roll.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3027B
- Reported as
- Cessna 195 (B)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7910
- Built
- 1952
- Airframe hours
- 4,370.3
- Engine
- Jacobs R-755-A2, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 7, 2021 · 42.6 hours before
- Departed
- RCV · Del Norte, CO
- Destination
- CFO · Watkins, CO
- Airport
- CFO · Colorado Air and Space Port Airport, runway 8, 8,002 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, Onboard weather, Stall warning system, ADS-B, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Electronic multifunction display
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
- 52
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- September 16, 2021
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 27,472 total · 162.3 in this make and model · 21,000 as pilot in command · 122.7 in the last 90 days · 50.4 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.23 inHg
- Turbulence
- Unknown
- Observed at
- CFO
- METAR
- SPECI KCFO 042210Z 10005KT 10SM SKC 27/M06 A3023 RMK ACFT MSHP=
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 10, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.7 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.