- Date
- September 26, 2001, 18:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Faribault, MN
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N273BColonial C-2
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 4, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA-Minneapolis, Minnesota - FSDO
- FAA report
- 20010926026349A
- Case key
- 53562
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 shock strut.
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 was damaged when the right main landing gear collapsed during landing. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the right main landing gear air-oil shock absorber (oleo) was broken. Further examination revealed that the end cap of the oleo was separated from the outer tube of the oleo. The end cap was held in place by two bolts, 180 degrees apart, inserted radially through the outer tube. The bolts were then threaded into the machined end cap. The holes in the outer tube were elongated and torn out to the end of the tube. Further examination revealed a second set of holes through the outer tube about 90 degrees to the first set of holes. The second set of holes also revealed elongation of the holes. According to the airplane owner, the right oleo was an original part. The left strut had been replaced with a new strut since the airplane was manufactured in 1959. According to the airplane type certificate holder, it is an approved repair procedure to rotate the outer tube of the oleo and drill a second set of holes when elongation of the first set is discovered.
Factual narrative
On September 26, 2001, about 1830 central daylight time, a Colonial C-2, N273B, piloted by an airline transport pilot, sustained substantial damage when the landing gear collapsed during landing on runway 20 (2,230 feet by 140 feet, turf) at the Faribault Municipal Airport, Faribault, Minnesota. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight was not on a flight plan and was operating in visual meteorological conditions. No injuries were reported. The local flight originated about 1800.
A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the right main landing gear air-oil shock absorber (oleo) was broken. Further examination revealed that the end cap of the oleo was separated from the outer tube of the oleo. The end cap was held in place by two bolts, 180 degrees apart, inserted radially through the outer tube. The bolts were then threaded into the machined end cap. The holes in the outer tube were elongated and torn out to the end of the tube. Further examination revealed a second set of holes through the outer tube about 90 degrees to the first set of holes. The second set of holes also revealed elongation of the holes.
According to the airplane owner, the right oleo was an original part. The left strut had been replaced with a new strut since the airplane was manufactured in 1959.
According to the airplane type certificate holder, it is an approved repair procedure to rotate the outer tube of the oleo and drill a second set of holes when elongation of the first set is discovered.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N273B
- Reported as
- Colonial C-2
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 131
- Airframe hours
- 1,711
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Hiram P. Gates
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 11, 2001 · 64 hours before
- Departed
- FBL · Faribault, MN
- Airport
- FBL · Faribault Muni, runway 20, 2,230 × 140 ft, grass/turf
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
- 36
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Commercial, Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Last flight review
- June 1, 2001
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,600 total · 115 in this make and model · 1,950 as pilot in command · 200 in the last 90 days · 75 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 0° at 0 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- FBL
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.