Incident Overview
A training flight involving an instructor and student pilot experienced a landing gear separation following a series of hard landings. The flight originated at Tooele and later diverted to Salt Lake City for an emergency landing.
Sequence of Events
The instructor and student were performing touch-and-go landings on runway 34 at Tooele. During the first landing, the student was at the controls and executed what the instructor later described as a 'bounced a medium hard landing.' The aircraft continued in the traffic pattern, and the student made a second hard landing. A witness on the ground then notified the instructor via radio that the right main landing gear appeared to be bent aft. In response, the aircraft returned to Salt Lake City, where emergency ground crews were available. The instructor performed an emergency landing on runway 35. As the aircraft rolled out, the right landing gear bent further aft and separated from the airplane.
Instructor's Report and FAA Inspection
In the instructor's accident report, he stated that he believed the aircraft's right landing gear strut had metal fatigue prior to the accident. However, several FAA inspectors who visually inspected the aircraft following the accident found no evidence of fatigue failure.