Incident Overview
On March 26, 2013, at approximately 1430 central daylight time, a Cessna 152 airplane, registration N48693, experienced a nose landing gear fork failure while landing on runway 34 at Easterwood Field Airport (CLL) near College Station, Texas. The solo student pilot, the only occupant, was uninjured. The airplane sustained substantial firewall damage.
Flight Details
The airplane was registered to and operated by Central Texas Flight Training Inc. under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight. Day visual flight rules (VFR) conditions prevailed, and the flight was not operated on a VFR flight plan. The flight originated from Draughon-Miller Central Texas Regional Airport (TPL) near Temple, Texas, about 1300.
Pilot Account
The student pilot reported that he had flown the airplane from TPL and completed two touch-and-go landings at CLL without incident. During the third landing, the airplane touched down on the main landing gear. As he lowered the nose, it impacted the runway. After exiting the airplane, he observed that the nose wheel had collapsed.
Weather Conditions
At 1453, the recorded weather at CLL included wind from 360 degrees at 11 knots gusting to 16 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, sky clear, temperature 16°C, dew point -4°C, and altimeter setting 30.40 inches of mercury.
Examination of the Nose Landing Gear Fork
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector examined and removed the broken nose landing gear fork, part number 0442503-7. The fork was sent to an FAA airworthiness specialist in Wichita, Kansas, who oversaw an examination at a Cessna materials laboratory. The examination revealed that the final overload fracture of the fork originated at a fatigue crack on the upper shoulder of the fork. This crack had propagated over a period before the final fracture. Another fatigue crack was observed on the upper shoulder of the opposite side, which had not propagated to a critical length and did not break during the final overload fracture. The material used in manufacturing the fork met the specified engineering requirements.