Narrative:A DHC-8-402Q Dash 8, JA849A, sustained substantial damage in a landing accident at Kochi Airport (KCZ), Japan. There were 56 passengers and four crew members on board. There were no injuries.
All Nippon Airways flight 1603 took off from Osaka (ITM) at 08:21 on a regular domestic flight to Kochi. At 08:47 the flight was given clearance to land on runway 32. However, when configuring the aircraft for landing, it appeared that the nose landing gear would not deploy. The approach was abandoned and the airplane entered a holding pattern. The crew members attempted to deploy the nose undercarriage but the attempts failed. Two low passes were flown, at 500 feet over the runway. The crew then attempted to extend the nose landing gear by utilizing acceleration force during a steep turn. When this did not work, a touch-and-go was made so as to apply an impact to the nose landing gear. The flight crew when concluded that they had to make a landing with the nose gear retracted.
The captain directed the cabin attendants to move some passengers to aft cabin and fire extinguishing agent was sprayed on the runway. At 10:54 a landing was carried out. The airplane sustained structural damage on the lower part of the forward fuselage.
Probable Cause:
PROBABLE CAUSE: "It is recognized that this accident was caused by that, in spite of gear down operations in flight by normal and alternative procedures, the nose landing gear could not be extended because the doors of the nose landing gear remained closed, and when the Aircraft landed in this configuration, the lower part of the forward fuselage contacted the runway surface and was damaged.
It is recognized that the doors of the nose landing gear remained closed because the spacer migrated out from the hinge part of the toggle link assy, which was part of the nose landing gear door linkage mechanism, interfered with the support fitting, thereby prevented the movement of the toggle link assy, which resulted in restraining the movement of the entire nose landing gear door linkage mechanism.
It is estimated that the spacer migrated out because the bolt, nut and the like were not installed, and the spacer was gradually pulled aft out of the toggle link assy under the influence of retractions/extensions of the nose landing gear, airframe vibration, aircraft acceleration and so on, during operations of the Aircraft. Regarding that the bolt, nut and the like were not installed, it is considered that these parts were not re-installed at the time of the repair in the manufacturing process of the Aircraft."
Accident investigation:
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Investigating agency: | JTSB Japant  |
Status: | Investigation completed |
Duration: | 1 year and 3 months | Accident number: | AA2008-5 | Download report: | Final report
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Classification:
Runway mishap
Follow-up / safety actions
JTSB issued 1 Safety Recommendation
Issued: 28-MAY-2008 | To: Transport Canada | JA849A (1) |
In the repair considered to have contributed to the occurrence of this accident, although the important parts were replaced, there were no documents indicating clearly the replacement procedures, which it is considered to have resulted in errors taking place during the work. Consequently, Transport Canada should encourage Bombardier Inc. to improve further their quality control system, especially concerning repairs. |
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accident date:
13-03-2007type: de Havilland Canada DHC-8-402Q Dash 8
registration: JA849A

accident date:
13-03-2007type: de Havilland Canada DHC-8-402Q Dash 8
registration: JA849A
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does
not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Osaka-Itami Airport to Kochi Airport as the crow flies is 212 km (132 miles).
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.