What happened
On 9 April 2010, an Ikarus C42 FB100, registration G-HIJN, was conducting a training flight in the Ince Blundell airfield circuit. During the flight, the instructor was notified by ground personnel that the left main landing gear structure appeared to have failed. Following a low pass to assess the situation, the instructor declared a PAN and diverted the aircraft to RAF Woodvale. The aircraft landed successfully at the diversion airfield, and no injuries were reported to the two crew members on board.
The investigation
An investigation into the structural failure revealed that the axle of the left main landing gear had failed. This failure was caused by a previously unidentified crack that had grown through fatigue. The investigation also considered the operational history of the aircraft, noting that G-HIJN was used predominantly for training operations from grass runways. It was determined that these specific operating conditions likely contributed to the development and propagation of the fatigue crack.