What happened
The accident occurred during the final phase of flight as the pilot attempted to land the aircraft. During the landing flare, the airplane made contact with the runway surface at an excessive rate of descent. This hard touchdown resulted in immediate structural failure of the left main landing gear assembly, which broke off upon impact.
Following the initial collapse of the left gear, the aircraft continued to skid along the runway pavement. The uneven weight distribution and subsequent forces caused the right main landing gear to also collapse. Examination of the accident site revealed three deep impressions in the ground where the airplane touched down on the runway, indicating the specific points of impact during the sequence of events.
The investigation
A detailed examination of the wreckage was conducted to determine the nature of the structural failures. The fracture face of the broken left gear assembly was analyzed for failure characteristics. The analysis revealed that the overload failure mode was consistent with excessive stress applied during the hard landing, rather than pre-existing fatigue or mechanical defect.
Findings
The sequence of events indicates that the primary cause of the damage was the excessive vertical load applied to the landing gear system during touchdown. The initial failure of the left main gear led to a secondary collapse of the right main gear as the aircraft came to a stop.