Gear Issue Tecnam P92 Echo Super
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 12:32 pm
Well, it appears the only light sport rental in this area is out of commission for a while. I went by the airport last week to put in some stick/rudder time and was surprised to see the Tecnam P92 I did most of my training in sitting stripped bare missing a tail. After talking with the CFI who was on board the aircraft during the incident and the mechanic trying to put humpty-dumpty back together it was a gear issue and tail strike. Here is how it went down: A student was performing a landing at the end of a lesson, the landing was not abnormal with a seemingly soft touchdown, however, after the mains touched down the left (pilot side) wheel and tire assembly separated from the gear (sheared pin or axle???), this lead to a loss of directional control. The aircraft veered off the runway and spun (kind of like a ground loop) onto the grass and into a slight depression where it came to rest. The tail struck the ground during the incident and managed to crinkle up the skin pretty substantially. It also appeared to me that the aircraft had damage to where the gear attached to the fuselage, most likely from stress. Supposedly, the aircraft can be fixed and parts have been ordered to replace the damaged sections, however, with COVID and the factory in Italy, the parts are back ordered and no timetable has been given. Luckily, no one was injured and pilot error has not been suspected as a contributing factor. I was planning on getting into the Tecnam to get some time for a CFI-S rating, I thought it would be a great way to make a few bucks on the side and pay for my flying hobby. With the current situation, that's on the back burner so into a 172 I climbed with a CFII recently furlowed from the airlines to work on an instrument rating I had to abandon after the only CFII in the area went to the airlines.
So if you've read this far, my question is: what could have caused the wheel to separate from the gear leg? This aircraft is used for flight training, and has about 6,000 hours total time on the air frame. I was thinking fatigue from all those landings and possibly shoddy maintenance, but I'm not sure....
So if you've read this far, my question is: what could have caused the wheel to separate from the gear leg? This aircraft is used for flight training, and has about 6,000 hours total time on the air frame. I was thinking fatigue from all those landings and possibly shoddy maintenance, but I'm not sure....