- Date
- June 29, 2025, 13:20 local (19:20 UTC)
- Place
- Nephi, UT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3608UCessna 182F
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Landing gear collapse
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 2, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250629017949A
- Case key
- 200426
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
A failure of the nose wheel steering shaft and subsequent rotation of the nosewheel which resulted in the collapse of the nose landing gear during landing.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot was conducting glider tow operations and returned to land to pick up another glider. He reported that as soon as he touched down and lowered the nosewheel to the runway the nose gear collapsed. The firewall and lower fuselage were substantially damaged. A witness observed the landing and noted that the nose wheel was turned 90° when the airplane touched down. The pilot examined the airplane, and the nose wheel steering shaft was found fractured. The fractured steering shaft would have allowed the nose wheel to turn sideways prior to landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3608U
- Reported as
- Cessna 182F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18255008
- Built
- 1963
- Airframe hours
- 6,133
- Engine
- Continental O470-50, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Glider tow · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Kg Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 2025
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- U14 · Nephi Muni, runway 17/35, 6,300 × 100 ft, dirt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, ADS-B
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
- 68
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 10, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 4,173 total · 2,226 in this make and model · 4,079 as pilot in command · 43 in the last 90 days · 22 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- KPVU, 30 nm away
- METAR
- KPVU 291756Z VRB03KT 10SM CLR 27/08 A3015 RMK AO2 SLP151 T02720078 10278 20178 56005
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 2, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.2 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.