Incident Sequence
On June 5, 2008, at about 0840 eastern daylight time, a Cirrus SR20, registration N475DA, incurred minor damage when its nose landing gear collapsed during landing at Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB), Sanford, Florida. The flight, operated by Delta Connection Academy Inc. under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, was a local instructional flight with a certificated flight instructor and a student pilot on board. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed.
According to the flight instructor, he observed a "shimmy" in the nose landing gear during the first three landings but did not consider it unusual. On the fourth landing, the student pilot "did not flare enough, which resulted in a three-point landing" and a subsequent "porpoise" of the airplane. The airplane bounced two or three times before the instructor took control and taxied clear of the runway. No abnormalities were noted during the subsequent taxi back to the runway for takeoff.
During the next landing, the flight instructor had control. He reported that the airplane touched down first on the main landing gear, and that the nose landing gear "touched down sooner than expected." He then raised the nose again to smooth the roll-out. When the nose landing gear settled back onto the runway, the nose of the airplane "continued to dip well below the normal position and fell onto the runway surface."
Pilot Information
The flight instructor reported a total time of 420 flight hours, with 167 hours in the incident airplane make and model. His most recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) first-class medical certificate was issued on May 19, 2006. The student pilot reported a total time of 66 flight hours. His most recent FAA first-class medical certificate was issued on September 28, 2007. Neither pilot was injured.
Weather
The reported weather at SFB at 0837 included winds from 190 degrees at 4 knots, clear skies, and an altimeter setting of 30.09 inches of mercury.
Post-Incident Inspection
Post-incident inspections conducted by the operator's maintenance personnel revealed that the nose landing gear strut weldment had cracked. The incident prompted the flight school to inspect its entire fleet of Cirrus SR20 airplanes, of which nine others exhibited cracking in the same location as the incident airplane. According to the operator, the airplane's most recent 100-hour inspection was completed on May 14, 2008. As of that date, the airplane had accumulated 769 total flight hours.
Manufacturer Service Bulletin
The airframe manufacturer subsequently issued a service bulletin mandating an inspection of the nose landing gear assembly for cracking. According to the service bulletin, airplanes were to be inspected within the next 15 flight hours and every 100 hours thereafter. If any cracks greater than 0.19 inches were detected, the nose landing gear strut was to be replaced with an "improved" nose landing gear strut.