What happened
On September 9, 2017, a TECNAM P200 and6T operated by Ventum Air Flight Academy was conducting a CPL(A) flight training mission. The flight originated from Warsaw-Babice Airport [EPBC] with a planned transit to Grądy Airport [EPGY] for crosswind landing practice.
During the fourth landing on the runway at EPGY, the aircraft touched down normally on the main gear followed by the nose gear. Shortly after touchdown, vibrations were felt in the nose gear. Within one to two seconds, the nose of the aircraft dropped, and the aircraft continued its rollout with a damaged nose gear assembly. At the time of the incident, wind speeds were below 10 knots, and the crosswind component was within the manufacturer's operational limits. There was no evidence of heavy braking or aircraft overloading.
The investigation
The investigation, conducted by the operator, established that the nose gear strut fractured during the landing rollout, which triggered the initial vibrations. This failure led to the detachment of a portion of the fork and wheel assembly, which moved horizontally underneath the fuselage. The failure also damaged the landing gear kinematics and the retraction/extension actuator.
As the aircraft continued along the asphalt runway, the detached fragments of the fork, rim, and tire were significantly abraded by the surface. This friction prevented the fuselage from making direct contact with the runway, limiting the damage to minor local deformations and punctures in the lower fuselage skins and the landing gear bay covers.
Prior to the incident, the aircraft—which had been manufactured in 2017—had undergone its last maintenance on August 31, 2017, with 101.7 flight hours and 120 landings. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had reached 115 flight hours and 143 landings. No previous signs of nose gear issues had been noted in preceding flights.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was a material defect in the construction of the nose gear strut, which manifested during normal operations.
- There were no contributing environmental factors, such as excessive wind or improper pilot technique, identified in the investigation.