- Date
- April 10, 1992, 13:46 local (20:46 UTC)
- Place
- Tucson, AZ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N41632Piper PA-34-200
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920410009669A
- Case key
- 27596
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
The total failure of the landing gear strut (trunnion) due to fatigue. A factor in the accident was related to the inadequately performed recent annual inspection.
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
According to the pilot-in-command, who was demonstrating her competency to the designated pilot examiner for the purpose of obtaining her multiengine flight instructor certificate, no anomalies occurred with the airplane during the flight. The landing appeared normal except that during rollout the gear down and locked light turned off. The gear warning horn sounded and the left gear broke off the airplane. The pilot lost control of the airplane, it veer off the runway, and then collided with a sign. Exam of the left main landing gear revealed it possessed a preexisting fatigue crack on the trunnion's outer diameter surface immediately adjacent to the lower fillet radius of the web. The crack had enlarged to a width of 1.25 inches before the trunnion finally separated. The pilot reported that the airplane's last annual inspection had been performed about 53 flight hours and about 1.5 months prior to the accident flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N41632
- Reported as
- Piper PA-34-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 34-74501432
- Airframe hours
- 2,646
- Engine
- Lycoming LIO-360-C1E6, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Atc Flight Center, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Atc Flight Center, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 27, 1992 · 53 hours before
- Airport
- TUS · Tucson International, runway 11, 9,129 × 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 40
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 349 total · 54 in this make and model · 221 as pilot in command · 134 in the last 90 days · 47 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 8 knots, gusting 17
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 86 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.