- Date
- July 17, 2007, 14:45 local (20:45 UTC)
- Place
- Laurel, MT
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7927RBeech E-33C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 30, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20070717013009A
- Case key
- 66279
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 overload failure of the nose gear retract brace (drag link) during the landing roll.
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 nose gear collapsed during the landing roll after an uneventful touchdown. An inspection of the gear system revealed that the nose gear retract brace (drag-link) had failed. The fracture surface of the brace was determined to have failed in a twisting overload. No preexisting damage or indication of fatigue was found. The reason for the twisting overload failure could not be determined.
Factual narrative
On July 17, 2007, approximately 1445 mountain daylight time, a Beech E-33C, N7927R, experienced a collapse of the nose gear during the landing roll at Laurel Municipal Airport, Laurel, Montana. The Certified Flight Instructor and his student where not injured, but the airplane, which is owned by Rocky Mountain College, sustained substantial damage. The local 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, which departed the same airport about 20 minutes earlier, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation.
According to the instructor and the student, the touchdown was uneventful, but during the landing roll the nose gear collapsed. A post-accident inspection of the gear system revealed that the nose gear retract brace (drag-link) had failed. The fracture surface of the brace was analyzed by the NTSB Materials Laboratory, and it was determined that it had failed in a manner consistent with a twisting overload. No preexisting damage or indication of fatigue was found. The reason for the twisting overload failure could not be determined.
The failure of the brace resulted in structural damage to the area around the nose gear wheel well.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7927R
- Reported as
- Beech E-33C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- CJ-20
- Airframe hours
- 5,677
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-BA, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Rocky Mountain College
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 1, 2007
- Departed
- 6S8 · Laurel, MT
- Destination
- 6S8
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- 6S8 · Laurel Municipal Airport, runway 04, 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
- 55
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 1, 2007
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 13,300 total · 513 in this make and model · 11,320 as pilot in command · 146 in the last 90 days · 54 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 21
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 1, 2006
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 210 total · 21 in this make and model · 140 as pilot in command · 17 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 95 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- 6S8, 1 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.