Piper PA44 N2163F

Summary

On 23 May 2015 at about 20:05 local time, a Piper PA44 registered N2163F, operated by Pilot Training Center LLC, was involved in an accident near Miami, Florida, United States. 3 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

23 May 2015 at 20:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Miami, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Miami Executive (TMB)

Coordinates

25.6431, -80.4331

Aircraft

Piper PA44

Registration

N2163F

Category

Airplane

Year built

1978

Engines

2

Operator

Pilot Training Center LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

West Palm Beach → Miami

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA15LA225

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the nose landing gear upper drag link knee bolt due to reverse-bending fatigue, which was likely preceded by excessive bearing wear due to reasons that could not be determined based on the available evidence.  

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor reported that the student pilot's approach and landing during the instructional flight were normal. During the landing roll, the nose landing gear (NLG) collapsed, which resulted in structural damage to the airframe. Examination of the NLG revealed that an upper drag link and associated knee bolt were broken. Subsequent examination of the upper drag link revealed that it had failed due to overstress; however, the knee bolt had failed due to reverse-bending fatigue from relatively high-cyclic stresses. Given the failure location, it is likely that excessive wear in the bearing preceded the bolt failure. The airplane manufacturer had issued a service bulletin applicable to the accident airplane, which recommended the inspection of the NLG drag link assembly and replacement of the associated knee bolt at 500-hour intervals. Further, the Federal Aviation Administration subsequently issued a special airworthiness bulletin, which recommended that the NLG drag link assembly inspection and knee bolt replacement interval be reduced to 400 hours time in service (TIS) for airplanes that experienced greater-than-normal landing cycles per flight hour, including airplanes used for flight school operations like the accident airplane. A review of the airplane's maintenance records revealed that the failed knee bolt was replaced about 386 hours TIS before the accident. Although the records indicated that the flight school followed the 500-hour interval not the 400-hour interval, the bolt had been replaced at less hours TIS than the recommended interval; therefore, the reason for the premature excessive wear could not be determined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.