Piper PA-44-180 N2214N

Summary

On 1 November 2008 at about 20:30 local time, a Piper PA-44-180 registered N2214N, operated by Flight School of Gwinnett Inc, was involved in an accident near Lawrenceville, Georgia, 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

1 November 2008 at 20:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States

Nearest airport

Gwinnett County Airport (KLZU)

Coordinates

33.9781, -83.9622

Aircraft

Piper PA-44-180

Registration

N2214N

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Flight School of Gwinnett Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lawrenceville → Lawrenceville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA09LA050

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the nose gear drag link bolt due to reversed bending fatigue.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During touchdown following a practice ILS approach, the nose gear collapsed, resulting in structural damage to the airplane. Examination of the nose gear assembly revealed that the nose gear drag link bolt failed. The bolt was installed on the airplane approximately 441 flight hours prior to the accident, and Piper Service Bulletin (SB) 1156 requires operators to replace the bolt at 500-hour intervals due to a history of fatigue failures. Examination of the failed bolt revealed that it met design specifications for hardness, surface roughness, and microstructure. Further examination indicated that the bolt failed from reversed bending fatigue. The failure mode was atypical of the failure mode that prompted issuance of the SB.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.