Czech Sport Aircraft As PIPER SPORT N425AZ accident near Stuart, Florida

Probable cause

Inadequate maintenance inspection of the airplane's nose landing gear, which resulted in a nose landing gear collapse during landing due to cracking and corrosion.

NTSB analysis

The sport pilot was conducting a personal flight in the special light sport airplane. During landing, the airplane touched down normally on the main landing gear. After 50 ft of ground roll, the nose landing gear touched down and collapsed; one propeller blade subsequently separated, and the airplane came to rest upright on the runway. Examination of the airplane revealed that the nose landing gear had separated at a location that the airplane maintenance manual (AMM) and a service bulletin (SB) indicate should be inspected for cracks. The separated fracture surfaces exhibited cracking and corrosion. Review of the SB revealed that due to the development of cracks, an inspection for cracks per the AMM should occur every 25 flight hours or 50 cycles, whatever occurs first. The AMM stated to use a flashlight and 10x magnifier to visually inspect the nose landing gear leg lower section and verify that there is no evidence of cracking in paint on or around the place of the weld between the tube and the bracket. The most recent documented nose landing gear inspection was about 2 years 5 months before the accident. Thus, it is likely that the nose landing gear was not adequately inspected and cracks and corrosion were therefore undetected, which led to the nose landing gear collapse during landing.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA18LA220 for the full record.