Accident Details
On August 3, 2021, at approximately 1115 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-181, registration N728A, sustained substantial damage in an accident near Jeffersonville, Indiana. The aircraft was being operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. The flight instructor and student pilot reported no injuries.
Flight Sequence
According to the flight instructor, the flight involved takeoff and landing practice. The accident occurred during the sixth landing of the session. The approach and landing were described as normal, with the airplane touching down on the main landing gear while the engine was at idle. The airplane was positioned slightly left of the runway centerline and began drifting to the right. Both the student and instructor attempted to correct the drift but were unsuccessful. The airplane continued off the right side of the runway. The right main landing gear then struck a runway light and separated from the aircraft. The right wing and fuselage incurred substantial damage.
Damage Examination
Photographs of the runway light showed that its concrete base was approximately 1 inch above the surrounding ground, and the light stanchion consisted of a small pipe threaded into a flange base. The pipe fractured at the threads at the flanged base. Examination of the airplane revealed that the landing gear leg was intact, but the bolts and screws securing it to the wing main spar had fractured. The landing gear attachment to the main wing spar involved four screws to the top spar cap and four bolts to the bottom spar cap. Three bolts yielded four fragments, which were sent to the NTSB Material Laboratory for examination. The recovered bolt remnants exhibited fracture features consistent with overstress.
Service Bulletin
The airplane manufacturer provided information about several aircraft that had broken or corroded landing gear attachment bolts discovered during maintenance, including one instance where the landing gear separated during the landing roll. On March 31, 2022, the manufacturer issued Piper Service Bulletin 1375, which mandated replacement of landing gear attachment hardware on select Piper model PA28 and PA32 airplanes.