Beechcraft B-99 N699CZ

Summary

On 30 April 2022 at about 15:00 local time, a Beechcraft B-99 registered N699CZ, operated by Freight Runners, was involved in an accident near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 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 April 2022 at 15:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

Nearest airport

General Mitchell International (MKE)

Coordinates

42.9469, -87.8971

Aircraft

Beechcraft B-99

Registration

N699CZ

Category

Airplane

Year built

1968

Engines

2

Operator

Freight Runners

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Baraboo → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN22LA188

Nobody was injured.

A right main landing gear collapse due to fatigue failure of the landing gear drag leg support fitting.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported no difficulties during the flight or landing. While taxing the airplane after landing, the green right landing gear position indicator light extinguished, and the red gear handle light illuminated. The pilot glanced over to the circuit breaker panel and noted that the landing gear control circuit breaker had tripped. After parking the airplane for refueling, he notified his company maintenance control group about the issue and was advised to not reposition the airplane after refueling. The pilot waited about 20 minutes for weather to clear before exiting the airplane. As the pilot prepared to exit, the right main landing gear collapsed and the airplane’s right wing impacted the ground, resulting in substantial damage. Metallurgical examination of the separated fracture surface on the right landing gear drag leg support fitting revealed an area of fatigue in a machined radius adjacent to the center lug of the drag leg support. The remainder of the fracture exhibited features consistent with overload failure. An additional crack was found in the machined radius on the opposite side of the center lug. This portion of the part had not completely separated. Exposure of the crack revealed the existence of a fatigue crack in about the same area as the first crack, with overload signatures outside of the fatigue area. The airplane maintenance manual indicated that the subject part was to be cleaned and visually inspected at least every 7,500 cycles or every 5 years, whichever occurred first. Maintenance records indicated that the part had accumulated 762 cycles since the most recent inspection 23 months before the accident. After the accident, the operator examined the drag leg support fittings on their fleet of 9 other airplanes of the same model. Of the 18 fittings examined, 14 were found to be cracked. Of the 14 cracked fittings, 11 could only be detected using dye penetrant inspection, and could not be detected solely by visual inspection.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.