What happened
On 23 June 2022, a Piper PA-23-250, registration N13987, was conducting a commercial passenger flight when it experienced a landing gear failure at Auguste George Airport, British Virgin Islands. The pilot reported that the landing itself was performed normally; however, as the aircraft was decelerating during the landing rollout, the right main landing gear collapsed rearwards. The impact caused damage to the propeller and the flaps, though the pilot escaped without injury.
The investigation
Following the incident, the aircraft operator's maintenance agency conducted an inspection of the airframe. The investigation established that the right main landing gear drag bolt had broken.
Records indicate that the manufacturer had previously addressed similar failures in the PA-23 series by issuing Service Bulletin 1299 in January 2017. This bulletin advised operators to perform periodic inspections and replacements of these specific bolts. Furthermore, the FAA released Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin CE-17-08 in February 2017 to encourage compliance with the manufacturer's instructions. Because the FAA did not classify the issue as an unsafe condition, a mandatory Airworthiness Directive was not implemented.
Findings
- The primary cause of the gear collapse was the failure of the right main landing gear drag bolt.
- The aircraft operator stated they had been performing periodic checks of the bolts as recommended by the manufacturer, but no issues had been detected prior to this event.
- The operator has since committed to replacing the drag bolts across their entire fleet of PA-23 aircraft.