Incident
On 7 April 2013, at approximately 1645 hrs UTC, a Piper PA-28R-180 Cherokee Arrow, registration G-AWAZ, suffered a nose gear collapse while landing at Elmsett Airfield in Suffolk. The aircraft was engaged in a private recreational flight lasting about 20-25 minutes and was returning to Elmsett at the time of the incident. The sole occupant, a 61-year-old male pilot holding a Private Pilot’s Licence, was not injured. The aircraft sustained damage to the propeller, nosewheel doors, and exhaust pipe.
Sequence of Events
According to the pilot’s report, he conducted a normal approach, called finals at approximately 2 miles, selected the landing gear down, and applied two stages of flap. Slowing to 80 mph, he applied the third stage of flap and touched down on the mainwheels. As he allowed the nose to lower, the nose gear collapsed, causing the propeller to strike the ground before the aircraft slid gently to a stop. The pilot expressed surprise at the collapse, believing he had made a “text book” landing. He could not recall whether he had seen the “three greens” indication, which would normally confirm that the landing gear was correctly locked down.
Investigation
When the maintenance company arrived to recover the aircraft, they were able to manually extend the nose gear and move it into downlock, after which the aircraft was towed to a hangar. Subsequently, the maintenance company reported that, with the aircraft raised on jacks, numerous selections of the landing gear resulted in the nose gear locking down normally, with all indications and audio warnings functioning correctly. No pre-existing mechanical or electrical faults were identified.
The aircraft, a 1968 model (serial number 28R-30512), was powered by a single Lycoming IO-360-B1E piston engine. The pilot had a total flying experience of 377 hours, of which 280 were on type, with only 1 hour in the last 90 days and 1 hour in the last 28 days.