- Date
- May 14, 1994, 14:25 local (18:25 UTC)
- Place
- Deland, FL
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N71128Luscombe 8E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 10, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940514011069A
- Case key
- 37546
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 subsequent failure of the left main landing gear strut.
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
The Luscombe 8E was equipped with a Lycoming O-320 engine (150 HP) and was being used to tow gliders. While landing after a glider release, the left main landing gear strut failed and the wheel separated. The aircraft then nosed over and came to rest inverted. An examination of the failed landing gear strut indicated it was rusted on the inside and a preexisting crack was present at the point of failure.
Factual narrative
On May 14, 1994, about 1425 eastern daylight time, a Luscombe 8E, N71128, registered to Elizabeth B. Burbank, operating as a 14 CFR Part 91 glider tow flight, crashed on landing at the Bob Lee Airport, Deland, Florida. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the commercial pilot received a minor injury. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated at Deland, Florida, at 1415.
The pilot stated that on landing touchdown the left main landing gear wheel separated when the gear strut failed. The remainder of the strut dug into the grass runway and the aircraft nosed over on to its back.
Examination of the aircraft by FAA inspectors indicated the left landing gear strut was rusted and had a preexisting crack at the point the lower strut and main wheel separated. Water had been trapped inside the strut tube. No drain holes were present in the tube.
The holder of the Luscombe FAA Type Certificate stated that the strut has several bolt holes through it. The strut "sweats" internally causing water to build up in the lower part of the strut. Rust then forms, resulting in strut failure due to cracking.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N71128
- Reported as
- Luscombe 8E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2555
- Airframe hours
- 6,257
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Burbank, Elizabeth B.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 2, 1993 · 11 hours before
- Departed
- 1J6
- Destination
- 1J6
- Airport
- 1J6 · Bob Lee Flight Strip, runway 9, 3,300 × 72 ft, grass/turf
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
- 67
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,406 total · 250 in this make and model · 1,405 as pilot in command · 60 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 10 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 30,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DAB, 14 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.