Incident Overview
A pilot reported that during the landing roll out, a vibration was observed coming from the nose wheel. As the airplane decelerated to a stop, smoke was noticed emanating from the nose gear area.
Postaccident Examination
A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the nose wheel tire had gone flat during the landing roll out. This deflation resulted in vibration of the nose landing gear and a subsequent fire that affected the tire and the forward section of the fuselage. The fuselage sustained substantial damage due to the thermal activity.
Landing Gear Condition
The examination also found no anomalies with any of the nose landing gear components that would have precluded normal operation.