Incident Overview
On 27 June 1998 at 1300 UTC, a Piper PA-34-200, registration G-TEST, experienced a nose gear collapse while taxiing at Stapleford Tawney Airfield, Essex. The aircraft was on a private flight with one pilot and three passengers; none were injured. The nosewheel sustained damage.
Flight History
The pilot, aged 25, held a Commercial Pilot's Licence with 1,216 total flying hours (224 on type). He had flown 138 hours in the previous 90 days and 52 hours in the last 28 days. After the flight, he returned to the airfield and landed on Runway 22L. This runway is 1,077 metres in length; the first 610 metres are asphalt, and the remainder is grass. A displaced threshold reduced the available asphalt landing distance to 440 metres. There was no significant cloud, and the surface wind was reported as 240°/14 kt.
Landing and Taxi
During the downwind leg, the pilot selected landing gear down and confirmed three green lights indicating the gear was down and locked. He checked the nose gear position via a mirror on the left engine cowling and again confirmed the three green lights on short finals. After a normal landing on the asphalt, the pilot vacated the runway to the left onto a grass area at moderate taxi speed, stopped, and completed after-landing checks. He then continued taxiing slowly. After approximately 100 metres, the nosewheel collapsed. As the pilot shut down the engines, he heard the unsafe gear warning horn sounding.
Post-Incident Actions
The pilot informed air traffic control, completed shutdown procedures, and evacuated the aircraft with the passengers. Airfield fire and rescue services attended promptly.
Engineering Inspection
An engineering inspection by the maintenance agency revealed that the nose gear drag link had been bent prior to the accident. This bend affected the geometric locking of the nose gear, allowing it to collapse. It was not possible to ascertain when the drag link had become damaged.