What happened
During the landing phase of flight, the airplane veered off of the runway. The pilot reported that while the aircraft was landing, he heard a loud noise, immediately followed by the aircraft departing the runway surface.
The investigation
An inspection of the aircraft following the incident revealed mechanical damage to the landing gear. The landing gear scissor assembly was found to have broken loose from its upper mounting collar on the landing gear strut. Additionally, the lower strut had rotated approximately 90 degrees.
Investigators requested that the broken components be submitted to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator for detailed examination; however, these parts were not received. Aside from this specific failure, no other anomalies were identified within the airplane or its various systems that could be linked to a condition existing prior to the impact.