Accident Description
During the landing roll, the right main landing gear of the aircraft separated from the structure. The separation occurred when the upper torque knee link failed. Following the gear separation, the aircraft skidded off the right side of the runway and came to rest in a grass area.
Metallurgical Examination
A metallurgical examination of the failed torque knee link revealed that the failure was due to fatigue cracking. The fatigue cracks originated from gouges in the surface of the link, which created stress concentrations. Notably, these gouges had been painted over, obscuring them from visual inspection.
Maintenance Program
The aircraft was maintained in accordance with the Beech Aircraft Corporation's progressive maintenance program. This program requires the landing gear torque knee links to be replaced or overhauled every five years or 5,000 cycles, whichever occurs first. However, no record of this required maintenance having been accomplished could be found in the aircraft's logbooks.
Conclusion
No additional conclusions were provided in the source material.