Beech 95 B55 N600VP accident near Albany, New York

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain a proper flare while landing in gusting crosswind conditions, which resulted in a hard landing, overstress fracture of the nose landing gear trunnion, and a subsequent nose landing gear collapse.

NTSB analysis

The private pilot stated that, while on approach for landing, he lowered the landing gear and confirmed that all three landing gear indicator lights were illuminated. He noted that there was a "slight" crosswind, and, upon touchdown, he felt an "unusual" nose wheel shimmy before the nose landing gear trunnion fractured and the nose landing gear collapsed. Examination of the fracture surfaces revealed failure due to overstress with no preexisting conditions contributing to the failure. The airport's automated weather observation recorded a 40° crosswind at 16 knots with gusts to 25 knots about the time of the accident. It is likely that, while landing in gusting wind conditions, the pilot allowed the airplane's nose landing gear to contact the runway hard, which resulted in the overstress fracture of the trunnion and the resulting gear collapse.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA16LA052 for the full record.