LAX98LA088

The pilot of the accident aircraft performed a preflight inspection of the aircraft, including reviewing the logbook and squawk sheet, with no discrepancies noted. The operator of the flight school said that a student pilot had done a hard landing with this airplane approximately 10 hours before this flight. He visually examined the aircraft for damage and did not find any damage to the nose gear as a result of the hard landing. The pilot of the accident airplane reported a normal landing and touchdown, but stated that the nose gear continued to lower as the weight of the airplane landed on the runway. She stated she could not steer the airplane to the taxiway, so she shut down the engine and called for assistance.

On February 10, 1998, at 1430 hours mountain standard time, a Cessna 182P, N52748, collapsed the nose gear during landing at the Payson, Arizona, airport. The aircraft sustained substantial damage, and the pilot and her two passengers were not injured. The aircraft departed from Scottsdale at 1300, and was operating under 14 CFR Part 91 when the accident occurred.

The pilot stated she was about 10 miles out and talking on the Unicom frequency and was told that the winds were 230 degrees at 10 knots. She was told that the runway in use was runway 24. She said as she entered the downwind leg, she could see the wind was gusting and changing velocity. She stated the landing was "normal, but after she touched down on the main gear, the front end just dropped." She said the aircraft was not straight so she brought the plane to a stop using the brakes. She said she was unable to steer the airplane to the taxiway, so she called Unicom for assistance and shut down the airplane on the runway.

The pilot stated she reviewed the current logbook and squawk sheet before the flight and noted no discrepancies. The owner of the flight school was interviewed by telephone on February 18th. He stated that a student pilot did a hard landing with this airplane approximately 10 hours before this flight to Payson. He said that there was a shimmy in the gear, but he "inspected the aircraft and did not see any damage." The last 100-hour inspection was performed on December 1997.