Jones SA105 N320WJ
3 April 2012 · New Smyrna Beach, Florida, United States · No injuries
Summary
On 3 April 2012 at about 15:45 local time, a Jones SA105 registered N320WJ was involved in an accident near New Smyrna Beach, Florida, 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.
The record
- Date
- at 15:45
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- New Smyrna Beach, Florida, United States
- Nearest airport
- New Smyrna Beach Municipal (EVB)
- Coordinates
- 29.0556, -80.9489
- Aircraft
- Jones SA105
- Registration
- N320WJ
- Category
- Airplane
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- Not recorded
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- New Smyrna Beach → New Smyrna Beach
- Aircraft damage
- Substantial
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- ERA12LA296
People
Nobody was injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Probable cause
The failure of the nose landing gear wooden attachment/support structure, which resulted in collapse of the nose landing gear during taxi. Contributing to the accident was the improper design of the nose landing gear attachment structure.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The ground controller instructed the pilot to taxi the airplane to the active runway. The pilot stated that the taxiway that he was instructed to taxi on was “very rough,” so he elected to taxi the airplane in the grass as he had done several times before. When the nose gear came in contact with the grass area, the pilot heard a loud noise, and the nose landing gear collapsed. An examination of the wreckage revealed that the airplane’s wood structure fractured at the nose gear assembly attachment location, which ripped through the bottom fuselage area under the rudder pedals section. After the wood structure of the nose gear assembly fractured, the surrounding structure was unable to support the load on the nose landing gear, which resulted in the nose landing gear collapse. According to a mechanic who performed work on the airplane, the wooden design of the airplane was not able to support the loads for that type of landing gear system.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Jul 2012 | Piper PA-28-140 | Pensacola, Florida, United States | ARD Jonathan L | Serious injuries | - |
| 21 Sep 2012 | Beagle B206 SERIES 2 | Perry, Florida, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 22 Sep 2012 | Cessna 172S | Land O'Lakes, Florida, United States | - | Fatal | 1 |
| 24 Feb 2012 | Cessna 172S | Key West, Florida, United States | Dean International Inc. | Fatal | 2 |
| 14 Jul 2012 | Aeronca 7CCM | Ocklawaha, Florida, United States | Leo G Janssens | Minor injuries | - |
| 7 Jun 2012 | Pilatus PC-12/47 | Lake Wales, Florida, United States | Roadside Ventures, L.L.C. | Fatal | 6 |