- Date
- June 16, 1989, 11:15 local (17:15 UTC)
- Place
- Las Cruces, NM
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N36345Piper PA-34-200T
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 19, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890616057319A
- Case key
- 17722
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
Failure of the left main landing gear trunnion. A contributing factor was: inadequate inspection procedure in Piper service bulletin #787A.
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 left main landing gear collapsed shortly after touchdown. The acft then veered off the left side of the rwy & was further damaged. An investigation revealed the left gear collapsed after the left main landing gear trunnion had failed. The trunnion failed in an area that was addressed by Piper service bulletin #787A. Service bulletin #787A required an inspection of the trunnion at the 1st 1000 hrs time in service and thereafter at intervals not to exceed 100 hrs until it was replaced by a modified trunnion. The acft had flown 67 hrs since the last inspection.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N36345
- Reported as
- Piper PA-34-200T
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 34-7870321
- Airframe hours
- 1,986
- Engine
- Continental LTSIO-360, 220 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- North American Ins Of Aviation
- Registered owner
- North American Inst. Avia.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · May 19, 1989 · 67 hours before
- Departed
- LRU
- Destination
- LRU
- Airport
- LRU · Las Cruces, runway 12, 7,494 × 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
- 36
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 1,540 total · 30 in this make and model · 1,401 as pilot in command · 419 in the last 90 days · 148 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.