Incident Summary
An airplane that had just completed an annual inspection was on a maintenance test flight. During the flight, as the landing gear was retracted, the nose gear produced a loud noise. When the gear was subsequently extended, the nose gear would not lock in the down position.
Examination Findings
Post-incident examination of the landing gear system determined that the landing mechanism was within rig and the nose gear centering mechanism was operational. Metallurgical analysis of the fractured components indicated that the fractures displayed features consistent with overstress separations.
Conclusion
The investigation concluded that the nose gear malfunction was due to overstress separations, as evidenced by metallurgical examination. No other causal factors were identified.