- Date
- April 4, 2025, 14:17 local (18:17 UTC)
- Place
- Vero Beach, FL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N333SEPiper PA-34-200
- Defining event
- Landing: 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
- 20250404003039A
- Case key
- 199977
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
Separation of the lower nose landing gear down lock link bolt, which resulted in a 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 student and flight instructor of the multi-engine airplane departed for a training flight and initially planned to practice touch-and-go landings in the airport traffic pattern. After performing a go-around during the initial landing attempt, the flight instructor described that the student configured the airplane for landing and verified that the landing gear were extended. About 2 seconds after the airplane touched down on the runway normally, the nose landing gear collapsed. The airplane came to rest on the runway and the lower forward fuselage was substantially damaged. Postaccident examination of the landing gear revealed that the lower bolt, which secured the nose landing gear down lock link to the lower drag link, was missing. The bolt was not found after the accident. Without this bolt, the nose landing gear could not remain in a locked position after it was extended. Given this information, it is likely that the bolt separated during the flight, which resulted in the nose landing gear collapse during the subsequent landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N333SE
- Reported as
- Piper PA-34-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 34-7350091
- Built
- 1973
- Airframe hours
- 7,468.6
- Engines
- Lycoming LIO-360-C1E6, 200 horsepower, reciprocatingLycoming IO-360-C1E6, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Paris Air Inc, doing business as Flight School
- Registered owner
- Paris Air Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 21, 2025
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- VRB · Vero Beach Regional Airport, runway 12R, 7,314 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, ADS-B, Electronic multifunction display, Electronic primary flight display, Onboard weather
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
- 28
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 19, 2024
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,824.2 total · 847.6 in this make and model · 1,751.4 as pilot in command · 245.9 in the last 90 days · 71.7 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 37
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 6, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 325 total · 34.9 in this make and model · 238.9 as pilot in command · 33.4 in the last 90 days · 10.6 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 17 knots, gusting 27
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 3026.00 inHg
- Observed at
- VRB, 0.38 nm away
- METAR
- KFPR 041753Z 12020G26KT 10SM FEW026 28/20 A3025 RMK AO2 PK WND 10028/1726 SLP242 T02780200 10283 20239 58012
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 5, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.5 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.