21 Sep 2017: THOMAS J MURRAY KITFOX SUPER SPORT SUPER SPOR

21 Sep 2017: THOMAS J MURRAY KITFOX SUPER SPORT SUPER SPOR — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Old Forge, NY, United States

Probable cause

The separation of the wheel assembly during landing due to the pilot’s use of improper retaining nuts when he installed the tundra tires.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

According to the pilot in the experimental amateur built, tailwheel-equipped airplane, he touched down on a turf surface runway and the airplane bounced.

When the airplane descended to the surface, the right main landing gear wheel and brake assembly separated from the landing gear leg. The pilot reported that the airplane "skidded down" the runway and nosed over.

He reported that he had recently installed tundra tires on the airplane, and that the four bolts that came with the tundra tire kit, were not long enough to properly secure the wheel and brake assembly to the landing gear leg. He recalled that he used four bolts that were longer, however, they were not provided by the manufacturer. He asserted that the nuts that were used to retain the bolts were provided in the wheel assembly kit.

The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right-wing strut and the left-wing spar.

Contributing factors

  • cause Wheel/ski/float — Failure
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 360/08kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.