Incident Overview

Description
The pilot, accompanied by six passengers, was engaged in a private flight from Bloemfontein International Airport (BFN) to Cape Town International Airport (CPT). The aircraft was cleared for landing at Cape Town runway 19 by ATC. According to the pilot, he had selected the landing gear down and had three green light indications in the cockpit, indicating that the landing gear was down and locked. While the aircraft was established on final approach, the before-landing checklist checks were performed and full flaps were selected for landing. Touch-down was normal and about halfway during the landing roll the pilot felt the left side of the aircraft is slowly sinking. The left-hand propeller then struck the runway surface. The pilot made the necessary corrective action to keep the aircraft straight on the runway and to keep the sinking wing up as long as possible. The aircraft came to a halt to the left of the runway centre line. Nobody was injured in the accident but the aircraft sustained substantial damage to the left-hand wing, flaps, propeller and engine. Probable Cause: “The left main landing gear assembly collapsed during the landing roll due to a fatigue fracture that had propagated over an undetermined period of time.”
Primary Cause
Fatigue fracture in the left main landing gear assembly caused by prolonged stress leading to collapse during landing.Fatigue fracture in the left main landing gear assembly caused by prolonged stress leading to collapse during landing.Share on: