- Date
- October 17, 1992, 19:11 local (Oct 18, 1992, 01:11 UTC)
- Place
- Grand Junction, CO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N14695Bellanca 17-30A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 26, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19921017053009A
- Case key
- 18259
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 nose landing gear upper drag strut bracket due to fatigue cracking.
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
When the pilot lowered the landing gear, the gear unsafe light illuminated. The pilot made a low pass and control tower personnel advised him the gear appeared to be down. When the airplane landed, it swerved off the runway and the nose gear collapsed. Post incident examination disclosed that the upper drag strut bracket was broken. Metallurgical examination revealed the fractured pieces 'exhibited features typical of fatigue cracking' at multiple points of origin and 'overstress separations.'
Aircraft
- Registration
- N14695
- Reported as
- Bellanca 17-30A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 74-30688
- Airframe hours
- 2,540
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-K, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Classic Wings, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Classic Wings, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 30, 1992 · 113 hours before
- Departed
- TVY · Tooele, UT
- Airport
- GJT · Walker Field, runway 29, 10,501 × 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
- 45
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 772 total · 267 in this make and model · 632 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 25 °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.
Other investigations on N14695 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.