Piper PA28 N8314W

Summary

On 4 July 2018 at about 13:30 local time, a Piper PA28 registered N8314W was involved in an accident near Thomaston, Georgia, 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

4 July 2018 at 13:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Thomaston, Georgia, United States

Nearest airport

Thomaston-Upson County (OPN)

Coordinates

32.9575, -84.2678

Aircraft

Piper PA28

Registration

N8314W

Category

Airplane

Year built

1965

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Griffin → Thomaston

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA18LA226

Nobody was injured.

A landing gear axle nut being pulled from the threads of the axle rod at an unknown time, which resulted in the pilot's inability to maintain directional control during landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot performed a preflight inspection with no anomalies noted before the cross-country flight. He made a full-stop landing at an airport before flying to the destination airport. He configured the airplane for final approach. The main landing gear touched down, but when the nose landing gear contacted the runway, the airplane veered left. The pilot attempted to counteract the turn by applying rudder; however, the airplane continued to the left side of the runway. The right wing tip touched the pavement, the propeller struck the runway, and the nose landing gear wheel separated as the airplane continued off the runway. The airplane came to rest about 75 ft off the left side of the runway in a grassy area. The rod that attached the nosewheel to the nosewheel assembly remained connected to the nose landing gear fork; however, the rod was bent, and one of the nuts that secured the nosewheel to the rod was missing. Further examination revealed that the rod was threaded on both ends; one end had a nut attached, while the other end had bare threads that had been deformed in a manner consistent with the nut having been pulled off the threads. The missing nut was not located on the runway. The airplane had landed over 250 times between the most recent annual inspection and the accident. The location of the missing nut could not be seen during the preflight inspection because the area is covered by the wheel fairing. It could not be determined when the nut was pulled from the axle rod.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.