What happened
On December 9, 2017, a Piper PA-31T1, registration PT-OTV, operated by Brasil Vida Taxi Aéreo Ltda, was performing a ferry flight from Palmas, TO, to Goiânia, GO. During the approach to Goiânia Airport (SBGO), the crew noticed that the nose gear lock light failed to illuminate after extending the gear. Due to the nighttime conditions, the tower could not visually confirm the gear position during an initial low pass.
The crew waited for daylight to perform a follow-up pass. At that time, the tower reported that while the gear was down, the nose wheel was rotated 90 degrees relative to the aircraft's flight path. The crew performed another traffic pattern and proceeded to land. Upon touchdown of the nose gear, the tire burst, and the aircraft slid along the runway centerline until it came to a complete stop. The two crew members were uninjured, and the aircraft sustained light damage.
The investigation
The investigation established that the issue originated during ground operations in Palmas the previous day. While moving the aircraft with a tractor, a ground assistant disconnected the nose gear steering linkage (scissors junction) to facilitate maneuvering but failed to reconnect it or notify the crew.
On the morning of the flight, neither the ground personnel nor the flight crew noticed the disconnected linkage. The investigation found that the crew's external inspection was insufficient, likely because they did not use a flashlight during the pre-flight check in the early morning hours. This mechanical state prevented the nose gear retraction cycle from completing properly during takeoff, which the pilots attempted to rectify mid-flight.
Findings
- Failure to reconnect the nose gear steering linkage after ground maneuvering.
- Inadequate pre-flight inspection by the crew, specifically the failure to use a flashlight to verify the gear status during a night/dawn inspection.
- Lack of communication between ground support personnel and the flight crew regarding the altered state of the nose gear.
- Deficiencies in management supervision and standardized ground handling procedures.