- Date
- March 12, 2008, 11:40 local (17:40 UTC)
- Place
- Santa Fe, NM
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N17662Spartan 7W
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Aircraft structural failure
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 28, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20080312012059A
- Case key
- 67688
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
Fatigue failure of the right main landing gear, rendering directional control impossible and causing an overload failure of the left main landing gear.
Findings · 4
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 was practicing full stop landings and he made a "firm" landing. Shortly thereafter, the right main landing gear collapsed and the airplane began veering to the right. The pilot made corrective inputs but could not maintain directional control. The airplane departed the runway. The left main landing gear then collapsed. Both wings were bent and the fuselage sustained bulkhead damage. According to NTSB's Materials Laboratory report, the right main landing gear strut "appeared relatively rough and light gray consistent with overstress fracture of a cast aluminum alloy." Examination of the corner radius where the outboard support flange intersects the vertical tube "showed areas with a smooth faceted appearance with curving boundaries consistent with fatigue." Examination of the fractures faces of the left main landing gear strut "showed features indicative of overstress separation...An area of the fracture surface was smooth and shiny, features consistent with smearing associated with the compression side of an overstress fracture in bending."
Factual narrative
On March 12, 2008, at 1140 mountain daylight time, a Spartan 7W, N17662, registered to and operated by the pilot, was substantially damaged when the main landing gear collapsed during a stop and go landing on runway 33 at Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF), Santa Fe, New Mexico. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot and a pilot-rated passenger were not injured. The local flight originated at SAF approximately 1030.
According to the pilot's accident report, he was practicing full stop landings on runway 33. The airplane landed "firmly" on the main landing gear and on centerline. Shortly thereafter, the right main landing gear collapsed and the airplane began veering to the right. The pilot made corrective inputs but could not maintain directional control. The airplane departed the runway. The left main landing gear then collapsed. Both wings were bent and the fuselage sustained bulkhead damage.
The airplane was removed from the runway, taken to a hangar, and placed on jacks. Both left and right main trunions were sent to NTSB's Materials Laboratory for examination. According to the metallurgist's factual report, the fracture surfaces of the right main landing gear strut "appeared relatively rough and light gray consistent with overstress fracture of a cast aluminum alloy." Examination of the corner radius where the outboard support flange intersects the vertical tube "showed areas with a smooth faceted appearance with curving boundaries consistent with fatigue." The fracture faces of the left main landing gear strut "showed features indicative of overstress separation...An area of the fracture surface was smooth and shiny, features consistent with smearing associated with the compression side of an overstress fracture in bending."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N17662
- Reported as
- Spartan 7W
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28
- Airframe hours
- 9,410
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney R-985AN-14-8, 450 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Ronald E. Tarrson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 2008 · 2 hours before
- Departed
- SAF · Santa Fe, MA
- Destination
- SAF
- Airport
- SAF · Santa Fe Municipal, runway 33, 6,307 × 150 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
- 68
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 1, 2007
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 5,037 total · 60 in this make and model · 4,985 as pilot in command · 16 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 10 knots, gusting 18
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- SAF
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.