According to the pilot, he just purchased the Cessna 310J that day and was going to take it for a test flight before heading back to his home airport.
He told investigators the flight and the landing were normal however, during the landing rollout, he applied the brakes to slow the airplane and make the next taxiway turnoff at the airport in Fulton, New York.
The nosewheel started to shimmy during the turn and applied side loads to the nose landing gear linkage and structure. The pilot continued and taxied the airplane to the hangar, where he noticed the damage to the structure.
He stated there were no mechanical deficiencies with the airplane and that he should have slowed the airplane down to a taxi speed before making a turn.
Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed substantial damage to the airplane’s fuselage structure in the vicinity of the nose landing gear.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to slow the airplane down prior to turning off the runway, which resulted in damage to the airplane’s fuselage structure in the vicinity of the nose landing gear.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This November 2022 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Ahhh! Excess speed during a turn on taxi isn’t a good option especially when operating an old airplane!
Older planes should be babied a bit.
Yet another nose wheel failure. GA nosewheel assemblies are designed with all the robust strength of Tinker Toys. They collapse on hard landings and here we have a turn at elevated speed that bends the assembly. If those mechanical engineers worked for me they’d be fired for professional incompetence. Pitiful!
Regards/J
The choice is either making the aircraft considerably, more heavy, or expecting pilots to operate them properly. It is not designed to be a construction dump truck. You operated properly and within normal operating limits, and it will do just fine. Or you can buy an aircraft that is designed for the bad country and off field operations. Like any piece of equipment?If you get the right tool and use it properly, it won’t be a problem.
The photos in the NTSB report indicate a fair amount of previous repair around the NLG trunnion structure. Older 310s are weak in this area to begin with. Prior damage will only make it worse.
As far as I can tell from the somewhat blurry picture, it also looks like some corrosion in the damaged area.
I don’t have high regards for Cessna and Piper engineers. It seems they must take pleasure in designs where you have to jump through hoops to reach many items that need fixing.
Aaaaand, why are engine cowlings constantly cracking around the latch mechanism on so many PA 28’s ?
It does look like it’s been worked pretty hard…
Sounds like his technique may have also exacerbated the problem: Nose wheel & brakes on a well-loved, 67-year-old C-310J are definitely not as ‘stout’ as the ones on the Part 25 jets he’s used to flying.
Oops…
Make that only 57-years-old…but still.
Gotta stop texting while driving….