American Champion 8KCAB N721SD

Summary

On 28 June 2022 at about 14:30 local time, a American Champion 8KCAB registered N721SD, operated by Super D Aviation Training Co LLC, was involved in an accident near Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. 2 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

28 June 2022 at 14:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Knoxville, Tennessee, United States

Nearest airport

Knoxville Downtown Island (DKX)

Coordinates

35.9635, -83.8751

Aircraft

American Champion 8KCAB

Registration

N721SD

Category

Airplane

Year built

1993

Engines

1

Operator

Super D Aviation Training Co LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA22LA296

Nobody was injured.

The inadequate maintenance of the left main landing gear through bolt, which resulted in a left main landing gear collapse and subsequent runway excursion during landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After performing maneuvers in the local area, the pilot receiving instruction and the flight instructor returned to the departure airport and performed two practice landings. During the third landing, the flight instructor heard a “bang” noise and the airplane veered left away from the runway centerline. The airplane came to rest in the grass next to the runway and the airplane’s fuselage and rudder were substantially damaged. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector examined the airplane after the accident. The airplane’s left main landing gear had collapsed and the inspector found that the left main landing gear through bolt was fractured. The inspector further reported that the airplane’s most recent annual inspection had been completed more than 22 months before the accident. Additionally, the airframe manufacturer’s maintenance manual required that the through bolt be removed and inspected at every 100 hour/annual inspection and replaced as necessary, in addition to a mandatory replacement every 500 hours. The airplane’s maintenance records did not show when the last though bolt change had occurred. Based on this information, it is likely that the landing gear collapsed due to a failure of the left main landing gear through bolt, and that the through bolt had likely not been maintained in accordance with the airframe manufacturer’s requirements.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.