On September 22, 1984, a Cessna 411 (registration N323BE) operated by James P. Minear was involved in an aviation accident near Dolan Springs, AZ. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: The pilot's failure to avoid a runway surface defect, which resulted from inadequate compaction of graded material and the lack of appropriate notices to airmen. This summary draws on records from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) historical archive.
A light aircraft suffered nose gear damage when the nose wheel dropped into a sand-filled depression on a recently graded runway that lacked proper compaction and safety advisories.
What happened
Following landing, the pilot taxied the aircraft back along the runway toward a designated parking area. During this maneuver, the nose wheel encountered a depression in the runway surface that had been filled with sand. The structural integrity of the nose gear was compromised as the wheel fell into this void, resulting in the collapse of the nose landing gear assembly.
The investigation
Inspection of the airfield conditions revealed that county maintenance personnel had graded the runway surface following recent heavy rains. However, the grading process was incomplete because no compaction work had been performed on the graded surface. Additionally, there were no Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) or other advisory notices issued to alert pilots to the hazardous surface conditions.
Findings
The accident was primarily caused by the nose gear collapsing after the wheel dropped into a sand-filled depression in the runway surface. Contributing factors included the lack of compaction by maintenance personnel and the absence of any safety advisories regarding the degraded runway condition.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to avoid a runway surface defect, which resulted from inadequate compaction of graded material and the lack of appropriate notices to airmen.