Piper PA 46-350P N411MD

Summary

On 19 May 2007 at about 17:05 local time, a Piper PA 46-350P registered N411MD was involved in an accident near Fishers, Indiana, 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

19 May 2007 at 17:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Fishers, Indiana, United States

Nearest airport

Indianapolis Metropolitan (UMP)

Coordinates

39.9367, -86.0528

Aircraft

Piper PA 46-350P

Registration

N411MD

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Marion → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI07LA151

Nobody was injured.

The fatigue separation of the engine mount's nose gear actuator attachment foot during landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated that he crossed the "fence" at 90 knots and the touch down was soft on the main landing gear in the center of the runway. The pilot indicated that he "lightly applied toe brake pressure to slowdown the aircraft. ... Upon light toe brake pressure, we felt snap, and collapse of nose gear resulting in swerve to [left] of centerline - power setting was at IDLE when this occurred." An on-scene examination of the engine mount revealed a separation of the "new" one-piece foot design right attachment foot. Examination of the nose landing gear tire and rim revealed no pre-impact anomalies or under inflation. Examination of the engine mount revealed that "the upper aft part of the right nose gear actuator attachment foot fractured away from the rest of the engine mount. ... The fracture at the forward edge of the [right] foot had relatively smooth features on flat planes and showed curved crack arrest markings consistent with fatigue cracking from multiple origins. The fatigue cracking was evident over an arc of approximately 90 degrees; at its deepest penetration, the fatigue crack had propagated through approximately 90 percent of the estimated 0.07-inch wall thickness of the foot."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.