What happened
On 17 December 2002, a Cessna 210L, registered as ZS-HHT, was involved in a landing accident at Trennery's Aerodrome. The aircraft, operated for private purposes, departed from East London Airport and was performing a short field landing on Runway 21. While the pilot successfully executed the landing, the aircraft encountered soft sand during the ground roll. This caused the nose undercarriage to dig into the surface, resulting in a violent forward motion that fractured the undercarriage fork.
As a result of the structural failure, the propeller made contact with the ground. The impact caused subsequent damage to the lower nose under surface and the leading edge of the left-hand wing tip. The pilot, who held a valid commercial license, escaped the incident without any injuries.
The investigation
An investigation into the event established that the weather conditions at the time of the accident were fine with calm winds. Records indicated that the aircraft had been properly maintained, with the most recent Mandatory Periodic Inspection (MPI) completed on 20 August 2002. At the time of the occurrence, the airframe had flown an additional 81.20 hours since that inspection. No on-site investigation was conducted by the authorities.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was the nose undercarriage digging into soft ground during the landing roll.
- The impact with the soft surface led directly to the fracture of the undercarriage fork.
- The structural failure of the gear caused the propeller to strike the ground and resulted in damage to the wing tip and nose area.