What happened
On 2 February 2019, a private flight involving a Nanchang Dragon C J6-A, registration ZU-ECE, was conducting a series of circuit landings at various aerodromes. After completing several circuits at Heidelberg and Springs, the aircraft returned to Brakpan Airfield (FABB) for a final landing.
Following a successful touchdown, the pilot taxied the aircraft off the runway and came to a stop on the taxiway to perform post-landing checklists. As the pilot applied power to continue taxiing toward the hangar, the nose gear suddenly collapsed. The impact caused the propeller to strike the ground, and the aircraft's nose section hit the taxiway surface. There were no injuries to the pilot or the passenger.
The investigation
SACAA AIID investigators examined the aircraft and the pilot's actions following the incident. The investigation confirmed that the aircraft's maintenance history was up to date, having undergone a mandatory periodic inspection only 1.9 hours prior to the event. A technical inspection of the landing gear system by a maintenance technician revealed no mechanical or hydraulic faults that would have caused an uncommanded retraction.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was the inadvertent movement of the landing gear lever to the up position.
- The pilot failed to properly engage the landing gear lever latch into the locked position during the post-landing sequence.
- The nose gear collapsed because it retracts rearwards, whereas the main landing gear retracts inwards, which prevented the main gear from collapsing alongside the nose gear.
- Meteorological conditions at the time of the incident were clear and did not contribute to the event.