The NTSB has recommended operators of 10 Learjet models, totaling 1,883 aircraft, to check to make sure the landing gear is properly attached after a fatal crash involving a Lear 35 last February in Scottsdale, Arizona. The left main gear fell off the plane, and it was discovered that bolt holding the gear on wasn’t installed through a trunnion pin as required. The NTSB says the FAA should mandate visual inspection of the bolt and pin after maintenance to make sure the gear was put together properly. There have been four such failures, including the one in Scottsdale, in the past 30 years.
Bombardier told the NTSB it issued a service bulletin telling operators to make sure the bolts are through the pins as designed, but only 12% of operators have confirmed the checks have been done. In the Scottsdale incident, the left main gear fully detached from the airframe on landing, sending the out-of-control business jet on an arcing path that ended pretty much dead center on a parked Gulfstream G200. The Lear’s captain was killed, the FO and a passenger seriously injured and someone onboard the Gulfstream was also seriously hurt.
