28 Jun 2008: Taylorcraft DCO-65 — Richard Davies

28 Jun 2008: Taylorcraft DCO-65 — Richard Davies

No fatalities • Somerset, TX, United States

Probable cause

The right main landing gear strut failure due to metal fatigue.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The airline transport rated pilot made a successful landing to runway 13 on a turf airstrip. During the landing roll, at about 30 miles per hour, the passenger stated that he heard a "loud pop" and the aircraft came to a complete stop. A Federal Aviation Inspector on scene noted the right main landing gear strut had failed. The failure was consistent with corrosion and subsequent metal fatigue. Substantial damage was determined to the right wing strut, rudder, tail wheel assembly, right main landing gear and the propeller. Both the pilot and passenger were able to exit the airplane unassisted and uninjured. Winds were reported at the time of the accident to be from 140 degrees at 9 knots gusting to 18 knots.

Contributing factors

  • cause Fatigue/wear/corrosion
  • cause Main gear strut/axle/truck — Failure

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 140/09kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.