Bellanca 7GCB N8950R

Summary

On 30 September 2020 at about 15:40 local time, a Bellanca 7GCB registered N8950R was involved in an accident near DeFuniak Springs, 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.

Date

30 September 2020 at 15:40

Classification

Accident

Location

DeFuniak Springs, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

DeFuniak Springs Airport (54J)

Coordinates

30.7325, -86.1525

Aircraft

Bellanca 7GCB

Registration

N8950R

Category

Airplane

Year built

1960

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Baker → Baker

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA20LA342

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the left landing gear airframe cross tube during landing, due to corrosion hidden under riveted fairing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was performing a touch-and-go landing. After an uneventful touchdown and rollout, and just prior to his application of power to takeoff, the airplane swerved “pretty severely to the right” despite his counter controls. The airplane then veered off the right side of the runway, into the grass and the left main landing gear collapsed under the fuselage, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration Inspector found that the left main landing gear airframe cross tube had fractured, and a significant amount of corrosion and rust was visible. However, this corrosion was not visible until a section of riveted fairing was removed. Given this information, it is likely that the corroded left main landing gear cross tube failed during the landing, which resulted in a loss of directional control during the takeoff attempt, and a subsequent runway excursion.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.