Analyzing Failure

On October 9, 2013, in Xenia, Ohio, a Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage sustained a nosewheel failure and departed the runway after landing. There were no injuries.

Editorial Staff

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A Piper Malibu Mirage experienced a nosewheel failure and departed the runway after landing due to a fatigue fracture in the engine mount's nose gear actuator feet.
The fractured component was the subject of a mandatory service bulletin (SB 1103D) requiring 100-hour inspections for cracks.
An inspection performed 81 flight hours prior to the accident was deemed inadequate, as the fatigue crack was present in the inspected area but not detected, partly due to incomplete paint removal as specified in the service bulletin.
The NTSB concluded the accident was caused by the nose landing gear failure from the fatigue fracture, with maintenance personnel's inadequate completion of the specified inspection as a contributing factor.

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On October 9, 2013, in Xenia, Ohio, a Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage sustained a nosewheel failure and departed the runway after landing. There were no injuries.

According to the NTSB, after the pilot lowered the nosewheel to the runway, “the airplane began to pull quickly to the left. He applied right brake and pulled back on the yoke, but the airplane continued to veer off the left side of the runway. The airplane traveled about 500 feet before the nose gear collapsed back into the wheel well, and the airplane’s nose and propeller impacted the ground.”