Accident Summary
On March 15, 2015, at 1134 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172C, registration N8452X, sustained substantial damage during the landing roll-out at Peach State Airport (GA2) in Williamson, Georgia. The pilot, who held an airline transport pilot rating for multi-engine land and a commercial pilot certificate for single-engine land, sustained minor injuries. The passenger was not injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by the R A Marsh Flying Club of Williamson, Georgia. No flight plan was filed for the local flight, which had departed at about 1020. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
Sequence of Events
According to a written statement by the pilot, this was his first landing in the airplane. The approach was a soft field landing to a grass runway. Initial touchdown occurred on the main wheels with the nose held up. As the airplane decelerated, the pilot lowered the nose wheel. Immediately following nose wheel contact, a "significant" nose shimmy was felt. The pilot believed the shimmy damper had failed and applied back pressure on the control wheel to minimize weight on the nose wheel. As the airplane continued to decelerate, the pilot again lowered the nose and felt a more substantial vibration, prompting him to raise the nose wheel as much as possible. Eventually, the groundspeed decreased to the point where the pilot could no longer hold the nose off the ground. When the nose wheel touched down for the final time, it completely failed and separated. The nose of the airplane dropped to the ground, and the airplane slid to a stop.
Postaccident Examination
A postaccident examination was conducted by several Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety inspectors. One inspector reported that the nose gear had separated from the airplane and was fractured in several pieces. The firewall was wrinkled and the propeller was damaged. Examination of the nose gear revealed that an AN4-31 bolt and associated washer and nut, which attached the upper torque assembly to the nose gear steering arm assembly, were missing. The pilot stated that he had seen the bolt during his preflight inspection. Inspectors searched the grass runway for the bolt to determine if it came out during takeoff or landing, but the bolt was not located. Photographs of the fractured nose gear surfaces indicated that the nose gear appeared to have separated due to overload forces.
According to a representative of the aircraft manufacturer, without the AN4-31 bolt, the lower shock assembly of the nose gear would freely caster in the shock strut tube assembly, resulting in a significant shimmy. Additionally, nose-wheel steering control would be significantly reduced or nonexistent. Without the torque assembly, the shimmy dampener would also have limited to no effect.
A review of the aircraft maintenance logbooks revealed that no recent work had been done to the nose gear.
Pilot Information
The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate for airplane single-engine land and an airline transport pilot rating for multi-engine land, as well as an instrument rating. He reported a total of 17,065 total flight hours, of which 3,000 were in a Cessna 172. The weather at the time of the accident was reported as calm wind and clear skies.