Mooney M20F N891X accident near Nephi, Utah

Probable cause

The failure of the nose gear during landing for reasons that could not be determined due to postaccident damage.

NTSB analysis

Before the accident flight, the pilot diverted to an alternate airport due to inclement weather. While landing, the pilot felt a shimmy in the landing gear but reported that the landing was otherwise normal. The pilot did not inspect the landing gear. On the accident flight, the pilot flew to his intended airport and decided to conduct a soft-field landing; he lowered the nose landing gear after the main landing gear touched down. Upon contact with the runway, the nose landing gear began to shimmy. The airplane veered to the left of the runway and the pilot attempted to return it to runway centerline. The nose landing gear then collapsed, and the airplane continued off the runway and into a snow bank, where the nose gear was sheared off.

The pilot reported that when he purchased the airplane the year before, he had felt a similar shimmy in the landing gear. He further stated that 2 weeks before the accident, the airplane had gone through an annual inspection during which the landing gear actuator had been sent out for overhaul. The pilot had flown the airplane about 10 hours since the inspection. The cause of the nose gear failure was not determined because postaccident examination could not determine if the damage occurred before the impact with the snow bank or during the accident sequence.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for WPR11LA143 for the full record.