ERA19LA194

The pilot reported that his seat back collapsed during the landing roll and he lost sight of the runway. The airplane veered off the left side of the runway and impacted the segmented circle markers surrounding the windsock, resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot's seat back was found disconnected on the left side of the seat base assembly attach point. The bolt head that attached the seat back to the seat base had sheared off from the seat back assembly. The bolt was removed and later misplaced, and was not available for further examination; therefore, its failure mode could not be determined.

On March 9, 2019, at 1805 eastern standard time, a Cessna 172, N7367G, sustained substantial damage during a runway excursion while landing at the South Jersey Regional Airport (VAY), Mount Holly, New Jersey. The private pilot and the passenger were not injured. The airplane was registered to a private company and operated by the Windwalker Aero Club, Lumberton, New Jersey, as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The departure location and time are unknown. The pilot stated that the flight was uneventful until landing. During landing rollout, when he started to apply the brakes, his seat back collapsed, and he lost site of the runway. The pilot said that when he was able to sit back up, he saw the airplane had veered off the left side of the runway and struck a segmented circle. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed the fuselage was substantially damaged. The pilot's seat back was found disconnected on the left-hand side of the seat base assembly attach point. The bolt head that attached the seat back to the seat base had sheared off from the seat back assembly. This accident was initially reported by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an incident and was later upgraded on June 11, 2019, to an accident. Under the initial auspices that this was an incident, the FAA did not retain the bolt (P/N: AN#-17A) and asked the operator's maintenance provided to remove the bolt and retain it for possible further examination. The bolt was removed and given to the manager of the aero club, who later reported that he had misplaced the bolt. As such, the bolt was not examined and its failure mode is unknown. According to the FAA, the airplane's last annual inspection was completed on September 15, 2018, at a total time of 3,451.42 hours. The most recent 100 hour inspection was completed about a month before the accident on January 8, 2019, at a total time of 3,552.92 hours. The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single and multiengine, and instrument airplane. He was also a certified flight instructor for airplane single-engine land. The pilot's last Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) second-class medical was issued on July 10, 2017. At that time, he reported a total of 12,000 flight hours. At 1754, the weather reported at VAY was wind from 120° at 6 knots gusting to 16 knots, visibility 10 miles, and clear skies.