Lockheed L-1329 N787WB

Summary

On 27 November 1998 at about 20:05 local time, a Lockheed L-1329 registered N787WB was involved in an accident near Austin, Texas, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 November 1998 at 20:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Austin, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Robert Mueller Municipal (AUS)

Coordinates

30.2993, -97.6893

Aircraft

Lockheed L-1329

Registration

N787WB

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Houston → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

FTW99LA045

Nobody was injured.

The steering actuator fatigue failure resulting from inadequate procedure documentation for the manufacturing process.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the landing roll, the nose gear settled onto the runway, and the aircraft veered hard to the right. Application of the left brake had no effect. The airplane skidded, exited the runway, struck a runway marker, and collapsed the nose landing gear. The steering actuator had failed, the hydraulic fluid was lost from the steering actuator, and the fuselage received structural damage. The steering actuator assembly, p/n 1501-4, had accumulated 5,938.0 hours since new and had not been repaired or overhauled. Examination of the nose gear steering actuator cylinder by the metallurgist revealed that the cylinder fracture was the result of fatigue cracking initiated by an abrupt machining transition from the 45 degree thread ring chamfer to the straight wall of the cylinder. The engineering drawings appear to depict the radius at the fatigue origin as a continuation of the 0.03 inch to 0.06 inch radius adjacent to the fracture. However, the drawing is not clear on the specific intent of the transition between the nearby radius and the internal threads for the nut.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.