With a crew of two and two passengers on board a Raytheon Hawker 800XP Business Jet lifted off the runway at Naples Municipal Airport (APF), Naples (Florida USA) in the evening of this day in aviation history in 2019. As the aircraft achieved a positive rate of climb the crew selected the landing gear up.
The damaged nose landing gear actuator push rod linkage attachment point (circled) and the disconnected actuator just behind it. (source and © NTSB)
Shortly after the gear was selected up the main gears indicated up and locked, the nose gear however did not retract, and a red warning light indicated that the nose landing gear (NLG) remained in transit. An abnormal thud and vibration were felt from the nose section. The gear handle was cycled several times using the applicable checklist, but it made no difference. There was no gear up and no gear down indication.
ATC was informed and a diversion to the 12.000 feet runway at Southwest Florida's International Airport (RSW), Fort Myers (Florida, USA) was initiated. During the subsequent landing, the nose of the aircraft contacted the runway as the nose gear had not extended. The aircraft skidded to a stop on the runway, after which the crew and passengers swiftly evacuated the aircraft via the main cabin door. The aircraft fuselage sustained substantial damage.
The damaged nose section of the accident aircraft (Source: www.kathrynsreport.com © Unknown)
A Federal Aviation Inspector and a representative of the operator reviewed pictures taken of the aircraft. They observed the NLG actuator push rod linkage (drag stay) was disconnected from its attach point, and the nut, washer, and split pin assembly were missing. Deformation was observed in the area where the nut, washer, and split pin assembly were expected to be installed. When the NLG was manually extended by hand by operator maintenance personnel, it locked into place.
A check of the maintenance records by the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) revealed that the nose landing gear was overhauled during a heavy maintenance check in January of the same year. Following the overhaul, the nose landing gear was installed again on the accident aircraft in accordance with the airplane maintenance manual instructions #32-20-12. Which stated "Attach the drag stay to the leg forging with the pin, make sure the flat on the head of the pin engages the flat on the drag stay, install the washer and nut. Tighten the nut and lock with a new split pin."
Following the installation the work was signed off by an inspector of the MRO. Since then no other work on the nose landing gear had been recorded in the aircraft's technical records. The landing gear had accumulated 124 cycles since its overhaul.
The aircraft shortly after coming to a stop (Source: www.kathrynsreport.com © Unknown)
In their Aviation Investigation Final Report the NTSB concluded that the probable cause for the accident was;
Maintenance personnel's improper installation of the nose landing gear assembly, which resulted in the separation of the actuator arm and the failure of a nose landing gear to lock in place.
The NTSB Aviation Investigation Final Report which served as the source for this blog can be accessed by clicking on the .pdf file below;
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