Cessna 182E N3184Y

Summary

On 6 April 2002 at about 02:10 local time, a Cessna 182E registered N3184Y, operated by Allen, Bruce L., was involved in an accident near Red Lodge, Montana, 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

6 April 2002 at 02:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Red Lodge, Montana, United States

Nearest airport

Red Lodge (RED)

Coordinates

45.1875, -109.2672

Aircraft

Cessna 182E

Registration

N3184Y

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Allen, Bruce L.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hailey → Red Lodge

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

SEA02FA064

Nobody was injured.

Long term fatigue of the nose landing gear strut fork initiated by side loading which resulted in the separation of the fork from the strut and the consequent collapse of the nose gear. A contributing factor was the ditch the aircraft traversed during the ground roll.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot executed a normal 20-degree flap landing in calm wind conditions to the 4,000 foot long runway. During the rollout the nose wheel of the Cessna 182E separated and the aircraft veered left off the runway. Post-crash metallurgical examination of the nose gear fork fracture surface revealed thumbnail features typical of fatigue cracking that emanated from five different fracture planes. The fatigue regions were very smooth, contained crack arrest positions, and were darkly discolored. The exterior surface of the fork showed no evidence of corrosion pitting or mechanical damage adjacent to the fatigue regions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.