- Date
- September 30, 2007, 15:05 local (21:05 UTC)
- Place
- Laurel, MT
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N41695Bellanca 7GCBC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 29, 2007
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20070930021299A
- Case key
- 66972
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
Corrosion and fatigue-induced failure of the landing gear structure.
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
During an instructional flight, the left main landing gear assembly broke during rollout following a normal landing. An examination of the gear assembly revealed evidence that a step had been spot welded onto the gear. Over time, corrosion developed in the vicinity of the weld, and the gear fractured due to corrosion induced fatigue and separated. No evidence of gear maintenance specific to the welding of the step to the gear assembly was documented in the airplane's maintenance records.
Factual narrative
On September 30, 2007, about 1505 mountain daylight time, a Bellanca 7GCBC, N41695, experienced the breakage and separation of its left main landing gear during landing rollout at the Laurel Municipal Airport, Laurel, Montana. The airplane was owned and operated by the private pilot, who was receiving flight instruction from his airline transport certificated flight instructor (CFI). The airplane was substantially damaged. Neither pilot was injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan had been filed. The flight was performed under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91, and it originated from Billings, Montana, about 1400.
The CFI reported to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator that he was providing transition flight training to the student, and they had performed a series of uneventful takeoffs and landings. During the accident landing down the center of runway 22, the left main gear separated at the point where a step had been attached, and as the airplane rolled to a stop, the left wing's lift strut buckled.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) coordinator reported that his examination of the airframe revealed evidence that the step had been spot welded onto the spring steel gear assembly. The assembly fatigued and broke in the vicinity of the spot weld. The FAA coordinator stated that evidence of corrosion was observed in the area where the gear assembly fractured. No evidence of gear maintenance, including the welding of the step to the gear assembly, was documented in the airplane's maintenance records.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N41695
- Reported as
- Bellanca 7GCBC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 593-73
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Robert J. Guilfoyle
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Departed
- S68 · Laurel, MT
- Destination
- S68 · Laurel, MT
- Airport
- 6S8 · Laurel Municipal, runway 22, 5,200 × 75 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 77
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 17,415 total · 9 in this make and model · 52 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 53
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 154 total · 5 in this make and model · 5 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.