Cessna 185F N177BM

Summary

On 2 September 2001 at about 22:30 local time, a Cessna 185F registered N177BM was involved in an accident near King Salmon, Alaska, United States. 2 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

2 September 2001 at 22:30

Classification

Accident

Location

King Salmon, Alaska, United States

Nearest airport

King Salmon (PAKN)

Coordinates

58.6769, -156.6492

Aircraft

Cessna 185F

Registration

N177BM

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

King Salmon → Yantarni

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC01LA136

Nobody was injured.

An overload failure of the main axle attaching bolts, and subsequent separation of the axle from the landing gear strut.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial certificated pilot was back-taxiing on a runway in preparation for takeoff, and then began a 180 degree turn on the runway. During the turn, the pilot said he heard a scraping sound, the airplane wobbled and shimmied, and the right brake was not functioning. The right main landing gear strut collapsed near the axle attach point, and the right main wheel and tire rolled away from the airplane. The right wingtip and the propeller struck the ground, and the right gear strut was torn loose from its upper attach point. A postexamination of the right wheel and strut by the owner revealed the axle assembly separated from the lower end of the landing gear strut. There are four hex head bolts utilized to secure the axle to the landing gear strut. Each are inserted through the axle assembly and gear leg, and have a nut threaded and then torqued onto the bolt shaft. All four of the bolts were bent. Two of the nuts were stripped off their respective bolt shafts. The remaining two bolts were broken about mid-shaft. The owner of the airplane reported that about five days before the accident, new brake assemblies were installed on the airplane. The original bolts were re-used for the installation. One of the broken bolts was submitted to the National Transportations Safety Board's Materials Laboratory for examination. According to an NTSB materials engineer, the bolt was bent about 35 degrees, it had necking deformation adjacent to the fracture, and displayed features consistent with an overstress fracture in bending.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.