What happened
On November 11, 2017, at approximately 08:00 local time, a Cessna A-188B (registration HI-979) was performing agricultural spraying operations near the Piloto-Mao Aerodrome in Montecristi, Dominican Republic. During the landing sequence, the pilot noted that the left brake was non-functional. In an attempt to manage the situation, the pilot performed an emergency procedure by increasing power to take off again and approach the runway at a lower speed.
Upon subsequent touchdown, the aircraft traveled approximately 200 meters along the runway before veering to the right. The aircraft entered a 180-degree ground loop, coming to a stop facing the opposite direction of its arrival. The pilot was uninjured, but the aircraft sustained severe damage, including deformation to the rear fuselage, the elevator, and the left wing.
The investigation
The CIAA investigation focused on the mechanical failure of the braking system and the aircraft's recent operational history. Investigators examined the landing gear and found evidence of impact with tree branches on the hydraulic brake hose. This impact caused the threads of the coupling (nipple) to tear, resulting in a loss of hydraulic fluid.
While the aircraft had undergone an annual inspection in September 2017, the investigation noted that no specific interventions or inspections regarding the landing gear components were recorded during that period. The pilot, a commercial pilot with 10,000 flight hours, had been operating the aircraft for agricultural spraying, a task that involves low-altitude maneuvers near obstacles.