What happened
On 31 May 2017, a Cessna P120N, registration N210UK, was conducting a private flight from Wellesbourne Mountford to a destination airstrip on the Isle of Mull. The flight involved a single pilot and no passengers. The destination runway, a grass surface, featured a known 5-degree upslope.
During the landing phase, the pilot performed a three-point touchdown that was described as relatively gentle. However, roughly 100 metres before reaching the end of the runway, the nose landing gear failed and became detached from the aircraft. This failure caused the propeller to strike the ground, followed by contact from the left wingtip. The aircraft subsequently came to a stop. The pilot, who was wearing a lap and diagonal harness, sustained no injuries.
The investigation
Investigators examined the wreckage and the circumstances surrounding the landing. The aircraft sustained damage to the propeller, spinner, lower cowling, nose gear doors, nose gear attachments, and the left wingtip.
While the runway surface was noted to be soft in certain areas, the pilot maintained that the landing impact was not excessively heavy. The investigation focused on the structural integrity of the nose gear assembly. It was determined that the failure occurred specifically at the fork of the nose landing gear, which led to the detachment of the nosewheel and the associated gear attachments. Because the AAIB did not perform a physical examination of the aircraft, the precise mechanism of the fork failure remains undetermined.