- Date
- September 25, 2000, 10:15 local (16:15 UTC)
- Place
- Heber City, UT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N28YFNorth American T-28D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 1, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000925028339A
- Case key
- 50539
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 nose wheel landing gear shimmy damper, which resulted in failure and collapse of the nose wheel landing gear during landing roll.
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 pilot said that during the landing roll, the nose wheel began to shimmy. As the airplane slowed down, the shimmying became worse. As the airplane approached 40 knots, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the propeller began striking the runway. Postaccident examination by Engineering Systems, Inc., Aurora, Illinois, determined that the nose wheel shimmy damper had malfuctioned. They determined that there was grit behind both cylinder end caps, and there was evidence of a slow hydraulic leak from the damper.
Factual narrative
On September 25, 2000, at approximately 1015 mountain daylight time, a North American T-28D, N28YF, was substantially damaged when the nose gear collapsed during landing roll at Russ McDonald Airfield, Heber City, Utah. The airline transport pilot, the sole occupant aboard the airplane, was not injured. The pilot was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local flight that originated approximately 20 minutes prior to the accident. No flight plan had been filed.
The pilot said that during the landing roll the nose wheel began to shimmy. As the airplane slowed down, the shimmying became worse. He said that as the airplane approached 40 knots, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the propeller began striking the runway. The airplane sustained structural damage to the firewall and its bulkhead.
Postaccident examination by Engineering Systems, Inc., Aurora, Illinois, determined that the nose wheel shimmy damper had malfuctioned. They determined that there was grit behind both cylinder end caps, and there was evidence of a slow hydraulic leak from the damper.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N28YF
- Reported as
- North American T-28D
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 137799W
- Airframe hours
- 6,915
- Engine
- Wright 1820-86B, 1,425 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Lynn S Oswald
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 13, 2000 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- 36U
- Airport
- 36U · Heber City Municipal, runway 21, 6,900 × 75 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
- 63
- Certificates
- Military, Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 21,049 total · 130 in this make and model · 19,528 as pilot in command · 8 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 140 °F, dew point 122 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.