Cessna 177RG N300ZX

Summary

On 31 August 2012 at about 21:48 local time, a Cessna 177RG registered N300ZX was involved in an accident near Olympia, Washington, 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

31 August 2012 at 21:48

Classification

Accident

Location

Olympia, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Olympia Regional (OLM)

Coordinates

46.9694, -122.9025

Aircraft

Cessna 177RG

Registration

N300ZX

Category

Airplane

Year built

1971

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chehalis → Olympia

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR12LA383

Nobody was injured.

A loss of directional control during landing for reasons that could not be determined because postaccident examination of the nose gear steering mechanism did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot/owner of the retractable-gear airplane was completing a personal flight from a nearby airport back to his home airport. About 150 feet beyond the touchdown point, the airplane began veering to the right. The pilot was unable to correct the veer, and the airplane skidded off the right side of the runway into the adjacent grass and dirt. The airplane came to rest upright on its belly, adjacent to the side of the runway, and facing in about the opposite direction of landing. The two main landing gear assemblies were collapsed aft, essentially into their near-retracted positions. The nose gear remained partially attached to the airplane and was overextended forward to a near-horizontal orientation. Much of the physical evidence that was obtained was consistent with the collapse or retraction of both main landing gear just after landing. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the right main landing gear downlock mechanism functioned normally, but a slight anomaly with the left main landing gear downlock mechanism was observed. Because neither the pilot nor the air traffic controller reported a gear collapse, and the physical evidence was inconsistent with a left gear only collapse, a failure of that downlock was excluded as the cause of the right veer. An NTSB metallurgical examination indicated that the fractured nose landing gear components all failed due to tensile overload. Further examination of the nose gear components did not reveal any preaccident mechanical deficiencies or failures that would have resulted in a steering malfunction.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.