Carpatair SB20 at Timisoara on Feb 28th 2009, landed without nose gear

Last Update: April 29, 2013 / 16:26:18 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 28, 2009

Classification
Accident

Airline
Carpatair

Aircraft Type
SAAB 2000

ICAO Type Designator
SB20

Romania's Centrul de Investigatii si Analiza pentru Siguranta Aviatiei Civile (CIAS) released their final report in Romanian concluding the probable cause of the accident was:

The nose wheel assembly was blocked in the retracted position.

Damage to the cotter pin caused the nose wheels to rotate by about 10 degrees to the right and such wedged into the wheel bay.

The CIAS reported, that the aircraft was on approach to Timisoara when the crew received an unsafe nose gear indication. The crew worked the relevant checklists without being able to resolve the indication, then performed a low approach to Timiroara for an inspection of the gear from the ground, which identified the nose gear was not down. The crew entered a maneouvering area and conducted several high-G maneouvers in order to shake the nose gear free, however to no avail. The crew therefore declared emergency, emergency services foamed the runway in preparation for the arrival. The crew landed the aircraft on its main gear keeping the nose gear up until reaching the foamed runway area, lowered the nose and brought the aircraft to a stand still. The occupants evacuated the aircraft.

The aircraft sustained minor damage to the propellers and the nose gear doors, a visual inspection found the nose gear cotter pin had fractured, parts of which were found at the bottom of the gear bay in contact with the nose gear centering mechanism causing the nose gear to be rotated to the right by about 10 degrees.

The CIAS analysed that due to the rotation the tyres of the nose gear were jammed against the edge of the nose gear doors, so that the nose gear assembly could not extend. After the nose was lifted and the nose gear was rotated straight, several gear swings to extend and retract the nose gear all worked properly.

The cotter pin fractured prior to the event, it was not possible to determine what caused the fracture. As result of that damage the axle was able to rotate out of position.

3 safety recommendations were released as result of the investigation.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 28, 2009

Classification
Accident

Airline
Carpatair

Aircraft Type
SAAB 2000

ICAO Type Designator
SB20

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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