Landing and Drift
The air carrier passenger flight was landing on an icy, 2,120-foot-long, 35-foot-wide gravel runway with nearly a direct crosswind from the right at 15 to 20 knots. During the landing roll, at the captain's direction, the first officer fully deflected the ailerons into the wind while the captain, as the designated flying pilot, manipulated the remaining flight controls and engine power. Despite the captain's efforts, the airplane drifted to the left and encountered a snow berm alongside the runway. The airplane was pulled further left off the runway into deeper snow, collapsing the nose gear and causing substantial damage to the fuselage directly aft of the nose gear.
Pilot Reports and Investigation
In his written report to the NTSB, the captain stated his belief that the nose wheel steering did not turn fully to the right as he attempted to maintain directional control during the landing roll. He suggested a possible mechanical failure of the nose wheel steering mechanism. However, a review of the airplane's maintenance and flight discrepancy logs disclosed no preaccident mechanical problems with the nose wheel steering assembly. Postaccident inspection, bench testing, and disassembly of the nose wheel steering actuator revealed no significant operational problems that would have precluded the actuator from functioning.
Postaccident interviews with the first officer of the accident flight and the captain who had flown the accident airplane the day before indicated that they were unaware of any difficulties with the nose wheel steering. The first officer noted that the captain did not seem to utilize the rudders quickly or aggressively enough to maintain directional control during the landing roll and relied too much on the nose wheel steering. A company captain who flew repair parts to the airplane at the accident site reported walking the runway several times; he observed that it appeared the accident airplane's nose wheel had been turned fully to the right and had skidded on the icy runway.