What happened
On 10 July 2022, a Bede BD-4, registration G-BOPD, was performing a private flight at Fishburn Airfield in County Durham. Following a routine landing on the grass runway, the pilot applied the brakes, at which point the left landing gear leg detached from the aircraft. This structural failure caused the propeller to strike the ground and forced the aircraft to veer toward the left. The aircraft eventually came to a halt in a field of crops situated beside the runway. There were no injuries to the pilot during the incident.
The investigation
Investigators examined the wreckage and focused on the fractured landing gear leg. Analysis of the fracture surface revealed the presence of beachmarks, which are characteristic indicators of metal fatigue. The investigation also considered the operational history of the aircraft, which had been in the pilot's possession since 1984. The aircraft had accumulated 1,686 total hours since its manufacture in 1974. The pilot estimated that the landing gear assembly had been used for more than 2,000 landings, a figure the manufacturer noted was likely among the highest recorded for this specific aircraft type.
Findings
- The primary cause of the landing gear detachment was a failure resulting from metal fatigue.
- The aircraft's landing gear leg had likely undergone an exceptionally high number of landing cycles compared to other aircraft of the same model.
- The manufacturer confirmed that the specific landing gear leg design involved in the accident is no longer in production, having been replaced by a redesigned component.