Cessna 172N N733EJ

Summary

On 6 April 2022 at about 21:45 local time, a Cessna 172N registered N733EJ, operated by Pacific Contractors LLC, was involved in an accident near Tuscon, Arizona, 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

6 April 2022 at 21:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Tuscon, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Ryan Field Airport (RYN)

Coordinates

32.1422, -111.1746

Aircraft

Cessna 172N

Registration

N733EJ

Category

Airplane

Year built

1976

Engines

1

Operator

Pacific Contractors LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Marana → Eloy

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR22LA147

Nobody was injured.

The loss of directional control during the landing roll, due to missing hardware which resulted in the separation of the nose landing gear torque links.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot of the airplane reported that, during the landing roll the airplane veered left unexpectedly. The pilot applied corrective action with rudder input, but the airplane continued to veer left, exited the left side of the runway, impacted a ditch, and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right-wing lift strut, vertical stabilizer and rudder. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that, the bolt, spacer, nut and cotter pin connecting the upper torque link and the lower torque link was missing and not observed with the wreckage. It further revealed that the upper and lower torque links were not damaged. Damage to the nose gear and the right main gear was consistent with impact damage when the airplane exited the runway and impacted a ditch. A review of the airplane maintenance records did not reveal any recent maintenance conducted on the nose landing gear torque links.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.