Ayres S2R-T34 N4020Y

Summary

On 13 July 2002 at about 03:30 local time, a Ayres S2R-T34 registered N4020Y was involved in an accident near Firebaugh, California, United States. One person was 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

13 July 2002 at 03:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Firebaugh, California, United States

Nearest airport

Newman Strip (PVT)

Coordinates

36.8500, -120.4500

Aircraft

Ayres S2R-T34

Registration

N4020Y

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Firebaugh → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX02LA226

Nobody was injured.

The overload fracture and separation of the left main gear strut assembly due the left landing gear's encounter with a chuck hole in the private airstrip's asphalt pavement. A factor in the accident was the inadequate maintenance of the airstrip's surface.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane sustained a separated left main landing gear during the takeoff ground roll from a private farm airstrip. After the landing gear separated from the airplane, the airplane veered off of the runway and came to rest in a ditch. An FAA airworthiness inspector examined the airplane. He reported that the ear that secures the left main gear strut to the fuselage structure had fractured and separated, allowing the left gear strut to separate from the fuselage. The inspector examined the 30-foot-wide airstrip in the area used by the pilot for the takeoff ground roll. He located a chuck hole in the asphalt pavement that was 15 feet long by 3 feet wide and that had a maximum depth of 3 inches. At the northern end of the chuck hole (closest to the airplane point of rest), a 2.5-inch-deep lip was noted in the hole wall. Marks and transfers consistent with the landing gear and the fuselage contact to the pavement were noted just beyond this chuck hole.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.