Piper PA-46-350P N548C

Summary

On 16 August 2009 at about 15:30 local time, a Piper PA-46-350P registered N548C was involved in an accident near Sanford, Florida, 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

16 August 2009 at 15:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Sanford, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Orlando-Sanford International (KSFB)

Coordinates

28.7767, -81.2353

Aircraft

Piper PA-46-350P

Registration

N548C

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Gulf Shores → Sanford

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA09LA471

Nobody was injured.

The fatigue cracking at the point the nose landing gear actuator attaches to the mount resulting in separation of the actuator and partial collapse of the nose landing gear. Contributing to the accident was the lack of specific inspection guidance for scheduled maintenance to find and/or identify fatigue cracking in the welded actuator attach points of the newly designed mounts.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During landing, as the nose landing gear wheel made contact with the runway, the airplane veered suddenly to the left and exited the runway, incurring substantial damage, before coming to a stop in the adjacent grass area. Examination of the airplane’s nose gear assembly revealed the separation of the nose gear actuator attachment weld tube area (foot) of the motor mount. The metallurgical examination of fractured surface revealed fatigue crack emanating from multiple origins at the exterior of the joint where the attachment foot was welded to the support tube. The motor mount was a new design from the manufacturer which was to eliminate the concerns of fatigue separation of the weld in the foot area which was a problem with the old design motor mounts. The airplane had an annual inspection 36 flight hours prior to the accident. The new design motor mount does not have any specific inspection guidance during scheduled maintenance for identifying fatigue cracking in the actuator attach points. The old design motor mounts had detailed inspection instructions to detect fatigue cracking in the welds of the foot areas.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.