Baires SW4 at Mendoza on Nov 5th 2020, runway excursion possibly due to gear collapse on landing

Last Update: November 3, 2022 / 19:56:03 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Nov 5, 2020

Classification
Accident

Departure
San Juan, Argentina

Destination
Mendoza, Argentina

Aircraft Registration
LV-VDJ

Aircraft Type
FAIRCHILD (1) SA-227CC Metro

ICAO Type Designator
SW4

Airport
El Plumerillo Airport, Mendoza

Airport ICAO Code
SAME

A Baires Fly Swearingen SA-226 Metro III, registration LV-VDJ performing a charter flight from San Juan,SJ to Mendoza,MD (Argentina) with 11 passengers and 2 crew, veered right off runway 18 of Mendoza while landing at about 10:15L (13:15Z) and came to a stop with all gear off the runway, the right main gear collapsed. There were no injuries.

Argentina's JST reported: "[NOTICE] Fairchild SA227 metro III aircraft accident event matr. LV-VDJ occurred at the Gabrielli FJ International Station (Mendoza) at approx. 13.15hs UTC. Without injuries. JST Cordoba Headquarters intervenes."

Argentina's JST released their final report in Spanish only (Editorial note: to serve the purpose of global prevention of the repeat of causes leading to an occurrence an additional timely release of all occurrence reports in the only world spanning aviation language English would be necessary, a Spanish only or no release does not achieve this purpose as set by ICAO annex 13 and just forces many aviators to waste much more time and effort each in trying to understand the circumstances leading to the occurrence. Aviators operating internationally are required to read/speak English besides their local language, investigators need to be able to read/write/speak English to communicate with their counterparts all around the globe).

The report concludes the probable causes of the accident were:

- During the landing phase, the right main landing gear collapsed and
resulted in the aircraft exiting the runway on the right margin.

- The collapse of the right main landing gear resulted from the fracture of
both drag braces.

- According to the report issued by the intervening laboratory, there were no pre-existing cracks or pre-existing cracks or progressive advancement mechanisms that influenced the weakening of the above mentioned parts

- The fracture surfaces of both components exhibited characteristics of
ductile fracture characteristics, which suggest that these components were exposed to loads above the limits for the loads above the limits for which they were designed.

- The inner drag brace fractured in the first instance, which likely generated the external drag brace to not withstand the stress and fractured accordingly.

- The aircraft's CVR had the magnetic tape locked, which meant that it was not recording at the time of the event.

The JST reported the accident happened in daylight and good weather conditions ending a flight in visual meteorological conditions. The right main gear collapsed about 400 meters past the point of touchdown, the aircraft exited the runway's right edge about 740 meters past the point of touchdown. The crew reported the approach was flown by the first officer, the touchdown had been smooth.

The JST analysed that there had been no pre-existing condition weakening the structure of the drag braces. The fact, that the CVR tape was locked and prevented recording, meant that the exact cause of the drag brace failure could not be determined. The operator had complied with a service bulletin and a FAA airworthiness directive issued in year 2000 requiring mandatory inspections of the drag braces due to similiar failures earlier. That last inspection, required every 1000 flight hours, was last executed 47 flight hours and 33 cycles prior to the accident.

Related NOTAM:
A5924/20 NOTAMR A5923/20
Q) SAMF/QFALC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/3249S06847W005
A) SAME B) 2011051341 C) 2011051800 EST
E) AD CLSD

Metars:
SAME 051400Z 16014KT CAVOK 21/M03 Q1020=
SAME 051300Z 16015KT CAVOK 20/M03 Q1021=
SAME 051200Z 18011KT CAVOK 19/00 Q1021=
SAME 051100Z 18007KT CAVOK 17/02 Q1020=
SAME 051000Z 14010KT CAVOK 18/02 Q1019=