What happened
During the take-off roll or the subsequent landing gear retraction sequence, a critical failure occurred within the nose landing gear steering system. While the pilot was initially able to steer the aircraft using the rudder pedals during taxi and the start of the take-off roll, the steering link eventually fractured. This failure allowed the nose wheel to rotate significantly to the left, beyond its intended operational limits. This movement caused the nose gear shimmy damper to rotate into a position where it became jammed against a door hinge inside the nose wheel well. Following the failure, the pilot attempted to deploy the landing gear using the established manual extension procedures, but the mechanical obstruction caused by the shimmy damper rendered these efforts unsuccessful. Consequently, the pilot was forced to perform a wheels-up landing.
The investigation
Laboratory examinations of the steering components focused on the steering link to determine the origin of the failure. Investigators identified a fatigue crack on the fracture surfaces of the link, which had originated from a small surface flaw. The size of the pre-existing high-cycle fatigue crack relative to the total cross-section of the link suggested that the final fracture occurred over a relatively brief period of loading cycles. The investigation noted that the material used, a casting alloy, typically possesses lower fracture toughness than wrought alloys, making it more susceptible to brittle fracture. Because the aircraft remained steerable during the initial stages of the take-off roll, investigators concluded that the fracture of the steering link happened either late in the roll or during the retraction of the gear.