Accident Piper PA-44-180 Seminole N740FT,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 287515
 
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Date:Wednesday 1 August 2012
Time:16:15 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic PA44 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Piper PA-44-180 Seminole
Owner/operator:Space Coast Aviation
Registration: N740FT
MSN: 44-7995084
Year of manufacture:1978
Total airframe hrs:9200 hours
Engine model:Lycoming O-360 SERIES
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Category:Accident
Location:Titusville, Florida -   United States of America
Phase: Standing
Nature:Training
Departure airport:Cocoa-Merritt Island Airport, FL (COI/KCOI)
Destination airport:Titusville-Space Coast Regional Airport, FL (TIX/KTIX)
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
The flight instructor was conducting practice instrument landing system approaches during an instructional flight when he observed that the nose landing gear indicator light did not indicate down and locked. He observed that the nose gear was extended and he cycled the landing gear without any changes to the nose gear indicator light. During a subsequent landing attempt, the airplane initially touched down on the main landing gear; however, as the nose landing gear touched down, it began to collapse. The airplane came to rest about 2,500 feet from the approach end of the runway, and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage around the nose gear. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the nose landing gear eccentric bushing, which engaged the downlock hook, was out of adjustment. In addition, a check of the hydraulic system fluid reservoir dipstick revealed that the fluid level was below the amount that could be observed on the dipstick. After the hydraulic system fluid reservoir was properly serviced and the eccentric bushing adjusted, the landing gear functioned normally. The airplane had been operated for about 10 hours since its most recent 100-hour inspection, which was performed about 12 days earlier. The accident flight was the airplane's first flight after it was released from maintenance, which included a landing gear inspection and operational check.

Probable Cause: Inadequate maintenance servicing and inspection of the nose landing gear, which resulted in the failure of the nose landing gear to lock and its subsequent collapse during landing.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: ERA12LA494
Status: Investigation completed
Duration:
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB ERA12LA494

History of this aircraft

Other occurrences involving this aircraft
17 April 2012 N740FT 30 WEST LLC 0 Merritt Island Airport - KCOI, Merritt Island, FL min
12 September 2021 N740FT Up and Up Aviation LLC 0 Magnolia, TX w/o
Fuel exhaustion

Location

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
04-Oct-2022 11:41 ASN Update Bot Added
17-Nov-2022 19:47 Ron Averes Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative]

Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description

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