Accident Details
On November 10, 2010, at about 1100 eastern standard time, an Aeronca 7AC, registration N82934, was substantially damaged during landing at Merritt Island Airport (COI) in Merritt Island, Florida. The certificated airline transport pilot and a passenger were not injured. The flight was conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flight.
Landing Sequence
The pilot reported practicing landings on runway 29, a 3,601-foot-long, 75-foot-wide asphalt runway. After the last smooth landing, the airplane veered right. The pilot applied left rudder, and the airplane initially corrected left, but then veered sharply right despite full left brake and rudder application. The airplane departed the right side of the runway and came to rest upright in a creek. During the runway excursion, the left wingtip struck the water and ground.
On-Scene Examination
Examination of the wreckage by an insurance adjuster revealed that the main landing gear had separated and the left wingtip was bent upward. Additionally, the fuselage was distorted in the vicinity of the left wing root and the main landing gear structure. The adjuster noted that a right main landing gear attachment point appeared "rusty."
Metallurgical Examination
The right main landing gear attachment bracket and a support tube were sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, DC. Metallurgical examination showed that the front portion of the attachment bracket displayed buckling, bending, cracks on the tension side of the bend, and displacement of material around the hole, consistent with an overload event. Minor corrosion pitting was observed on what remained of the outboard portion of the bracket. The upper end of the support tube, as originally installed, was circular with slant fracture features consistent with an overload event. The lower end of the tube was oval with an increasing reduction in tube diameter on one axis as it approached the fracture face, and also displayed slant features consistent with an overload event.
Weather Information
The wind was reported as calm at an airport located approximately 8 miles south of the accident site, about the time of the accident.