Beechcraft HAWKER N694ES

Summary

On 15 October 2014 at about 21:22 local time, a Beechcraft HAWKER registered N694ES, operated by Eaton Metals, was involved in an incident near Denver, Colorado, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 October 2014 at 21:22

Classification

Incident

Location

Denver, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Denver Intl (DEN)

Coordinates

39.8517, -104.6422

Aircraft

Beechcraft HAWKER

Registration

N694ES

Category

Airplane

Year built

2004

Engines

2

Operator

Eaton Metals

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Denver → Latrobe

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN15IA014

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the main landing gear tire, which resulted in separation of the servo block and subsequent total loss of all hydraulic system pressure and prevented the landing gear from extending before landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot and the airline transport pilot were operating a business flight. According to the operator, the pilots reported that, during the takeoff roll, they felt and heard a vibration emanating from the airframe. They continued the takeoff and retracted the landing gear. Air traffic control tower personnel radioed the pilots and informed them that they had momentarily observed white smoke coming from the airplane. Shortly after, the hydraulic low pressure lights illuminated. The pilots returned to the airport but were unable to extend the landing gear normally. They subsequently attempted to extend the landing gear using the alternate gear extension procedures without success. Due to the hydraulic system malfunction, the pilots diverted to an airport with a longer runway and landed the airplane with the flaps and gear retracted. An examination of the airplane revealed that the No. 2 (inboard) tire on the left main landing gear assembly had ruptured, which resulted in the servo block separating from its actuator. The separation of the servo block resulted in the loss of both the normal and emergency hydraulic system pressures. There were no obvious signatures of cuts or foreign object damage to the tire's external layer, and no manufacturing anomalies of the tire were noted. An examination of the tire fragments revealed wrinkles on the inner liner of the tire shoulder area consistent with overdeflection. The tire could have become overdeflected if it was operated below the recommended pressure and/or if it was overloaded. According to the operator, tire pressures were checked before flight, but the pressures were not recorded; therefore, it could not be determined whether the incident tire was consistently operated at the recommended pressure. The operator was not aware of any overloaded condition of the airplane. Due to similar incidents, the airplane manufacturer had previously issued a service bulletin (SB), which recommended the installation of a landing gear jack that had improved servo block mounting hardware that would prevent separation of the servo block in the event of a tire failure. The SB recommended installing the landing gear jack with the improved hardware at the next landing gear jack replacement or overhaul; however, the airplane had not required a landing gear jack overhaul or replacement and, therefore, it did not have the improved servo block mounting hardware installed. No similar failures involving the improved mounting hardware have been reported.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.