What happened
On 4 April 2003, a PIPER PA-28-180, registration ZS-EOD, was conducting a private local flight near Ladysmith with the pilot and two passengers. Following a successful landing on Runway 11, the pilot began taxiing toward the hangar. During this maneuver, another aircraft, ZS-DOW, approached the aircraft head-on at a low altitude along the adjacent taxiway.
To prevent a collision, the pilot of ZS-EOD steered the aircraft off the taxiway and onto the grass. During this evasive action, the nose wheel struck a ditch. While the pilot initially noted only minor damage to the nose wheel spat, a subsequent flight the following day revealed more significant issues. During a second local pleasure flight on 5 April 2003, the pilot struggled to maintain directional control during landing, leading to the discovery of structural damage to the engine mounting bars.
The investigation
Because the event was reported several days after the initial occurrence, no on-site investigation was conducted at the time of the first incident. The investigation focused on the mechanical state of the aircraft following the two consecutive days of operation. The pilot's assessment linked the loss of directional control during the second flight directly to the impact with the ditch during the avoidance maneuver on the previous day.