What happened
On April 23, 2022, a Piper PA-38-112, registration LV-OLF, was conducting a flight training session at the Aeroclub de la Ciudad de Paraná in the province of Entre Ríos. The flight consisted of a series of touch-and-go maneuvers. During one of the landing attempts, the pilot made contact with the runway with excessive force. Recognizing the severity of the impact, the pilot immediately terminated the training session and taxied the aircraft to the apron.
The investigation
Upon reaching the parking area, a post-flight inspection was performed. The investigation established that the impact during the landing sequence resulted in structural damage to the aircraft's nose landing gear. Specifically, the inspection confirmed that the nose gear strut (amortiguador) had broken. There were no injuries reported to the pilot or any other persons involved, and no damage was reported to the surrounding infrastructure.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was a hard landing during a touch-and-go maneuver.
- The impact force was sufficient to cause the failure of the nose landing gear strut.