What happened
On June 14, 2016, at approximately 18:46 LMT, a SOCATA Rallye 235E-D operated by Aeroklub Elbląski was taxiing at Elbląg Airport (EPEL) after completing a training flight. While the aircraft was executing a left turn following its landing, the nose landing gear sustained significant damage and failed.
The investigation
The PKBWL investigation focused on the structural integrity of the nose wheel assembly. The aircraft had flown 10 hours since its last inspection. Upon examination of the nose gear, investigators identified that one of the bolts used to secure the two halves of the wheel rim had suffered a failure, specifically the shearing of the bolt head. This failure subsequently caused damage to adjacent bolts and resulted in the destruction of both halves of the wheel rim.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was the failure of a bolt connecting the wheel rim halves due to operational wear.
- The degradation of the bolt was not detectable during routine maintenance or standard operational inspections, as the bolt is located internally and requires the disassembly of the wheel halves to be inspected.