Accident Piper PA-44-180 Seminole N938ER,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 292521
 
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Date:Wednesday 29 March 2006
Time:10:42 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic PA44 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Piper PA-44-180 Seminole
Owner/operator:Embry-riddle Aeronautical University
Registration: N938ER
MSN: 44-96200
Total airframe hrs:621 hours
Engine model:Lycoming LO-360-A1H6
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Category:Accident
Location:Daytona Beach, Florida -   United States of America
Phase: Unknown
Nature:Training
Departure airport:Daytona Beach International Airport, FL (DAB/KDAB)
Destination airport:Daytona Beach International Airport, FL (DAB/KDAB)
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
The landing gear was confirmed to be down and locked, three green annunciator lights were noted, and the nose landing gear was visually seen to be down and locked. The airplane touched down, veered sharply to the left and departed the runway. It collided with a runway distance remaining sign, damaging the right wing. Post-accident examination revealed the nose landing gear had collapsed. The upper drag brace (that connects the nose gear to the fuselage) was fractured, and the pivot lug (that connects the upper brace to the lower brace) was fractured in two places. The pivot lug fractures were consistent with overload stress separations. At least 13 internal horizontal and parallel cracks were uncovered near the vertical centerline of the brace. The cracks followed the grain flow lines resulting from forging. Flow lines were longitudinal in the arm portion of the brace with a smooth, gently curving transition into the thicker portion of the lug. However, flow lines in the upper fracture were convoluted and tightly twisted. A laboratory-induced fracture of the brace revealed an irregular boundary with ductile overstress features interspersed along the edge of the crack. Low magnification revealed a smooth, undulating surface. High magnification revealed a fine granular texture. Energy dispersive x-ray spectra revealed an increased oxygen level on the crack surface.

Probable Cause: Failure of the nose landing gear upper drag brace assembly due to overload acting on an undetected forging defect formed during the initial forging of the brace. A contributing factor in this accident was the runway distance remaining sign.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: MIA06LA074
Status: Investigation completed
Duration:
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB MIA06LA074

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
08-Oct-2022 19:41 ASN Update Bot Added
17-Nov-2022 15:48 Ron Averes Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative]

Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description

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