- Date
- May 25, 2023, 18:20 local (22:20 UTC)
- Place
- Savannah, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N177EMCirrus Design SR20
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Landing gear collapse
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20230525013839A
- Case key
- 193127
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 and collapse of the nose landing gear during landing.
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 private pilot was conducting touch-and-go takeoffs and landings. He reported that during his second landing and subsequent takeoff, he felt a vibration in the nose landing gear and decided that he would make the next landing a full stop and taxi back to the fixed base operator. During the third landing attempt the airplane touched down, the pilot heard a “snap,” as the nose landing gear settled onto the runway, and the nose landing gear then collapsed. Security video of the landing showed that the airplane landed normally, and after several seconds of landing roll, the nose landing gear collapsed and the airplane came to a stop on the runway. The airplane’s firewall, engine mounts, and lower fuselage structure were substantially damaged. The airplane was subsequently removed from the runway and stored in a hangar at the airport. The hangar later caught fire and the airplane was destroyed. An examination of the nose landing gear components could not accomplished.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N177EM
- Reported as
- Cirrus Design SR20
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1045
- Built
- 2000
- Airframe hours
- 2,974
- Engine
- Continental IO-360-ES6B, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Aero Davis LLC
- Registered owner
- Aero Davis LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 20, 2023 · 40 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- SAV · Savannah/Hilton Head Intl, runway 10, 9,351 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display, Airframe parachute, ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- 34
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 3, 2022
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 321 total · 24 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.92 inHg
- Observed at
- SAV
- METAR
- METAR KSAV 301753Z 10015KT 10SM SCT030 SCT075 BKN090 28/17 A2992 RMK AO2 SLP131 CB DSNT SW T02830172 10289 20217 58006=
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 16, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 112 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.