What happened
During a flight training session involving touch-and-go landings, the student pilot was operating the unspecified aircraft. Upon touchdown during one of these maneuvers, the instructor and student both heard and felt a loud bang. They observed a white object depart from the right side of the airplane.
The instructor immediately applied power to execute a go-around. Following this maneuver, the crew confirmed that the nose gear was no longer attached to the aircraft. The flight proceeded to Lakeland airport for an emergency landing. During the landing process at Lakeland, the nose strut appeared to fail, causing the aircraft to settle onto its nose.
The investigation
A metallurgical examination of the damaged nose landing gear assembly was conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board's Materials Laboratory. This examination revealed that all fractures found on the assembly were typical of an overstress condition.