- Date
- June 24, 2016, 11:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Poughkeepsie, NY
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N3024CPiper PA28
- Defining event
- Taxi-from runway: Landing gear collapse
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 20, 2020
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20160624009839A
- Case key
- 93499
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
An overstress failure of the left main landing gear attachment bolts, which resulted in the left main landing gear collapse.
Findings · 1
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 flight instructor stated that, while taxiing after landing from the instructional flight, the airplane started to veer to the left, and he heard a "metallic sound." Shortly after, the left main landing gear collapsed, and the airplane came to a stop. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the left main landing gear strut separated from the wing attachment; the bolts attaching the landing gear to the spar were sheared in the vicinity of the bolt threads. The fracture features of the bolts displayed signatures of overstress failure. It could not be determined whether the overstress fracture of the bolts occurred during the accident flight or during a previous unreported event.
Factual narrative
On June 24, 2016, at 1130 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-181, N3024C, was substantially damaged while taxing at the Dutchess County Airport (POU), Poughkeepsie, New York. The flight instructor and student pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was registered to and operated by West Field Flight Academy, in accordance with 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight.According to the flight instructor, after landing on runway 6, he contacted the POU air traffic control tower and requested to taxi on the crossing runway to the ramp. They taxied the airplane about 3,000 ft down the runway and just prior to the turn, the airplane started to veer to the left. The flight instructor heard a "metallic sound" left main landing gear collapsed bringing the airplane to a stop. The flight instructor informed the tower controller, performed an engine shut down, and exited the airplane with the student pilot. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the left main landing gear strut separated from the wing spar attachment. Further examination revealed the wing spar bent upward. Examination of the landing gear strut revealed that the attaching bolts had sheared in the vicinity of the threads. The fracture features of the bolts displayed signatures consistent with overstress failure.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3024C
- Reported as
- Piper PA28 (181)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-7990149
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 7,212.5
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4M, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 12, 2016 · 98 hours before
- Departed
- POU · Poughkeepsie, NY
- Destination
- POU · Poughkeepsie, NY
- Airport
- POU · Dutchess County Airport, runway 33, 2,744 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 60
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 9, 2015
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 7,862 total · 3,500 in this make and model · 7,500 as pilot in command · 119 in the last 90 days · 42 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 54
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 23 total · 19 in this make and model · 23 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- POU
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 4, 2019, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.5 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.