On the Record: Kitfox—Idaho

Feb. 7, 2017

During the landing roll, the left main landing gear slowly collapsed forward. During a post-accident examination of the airframe it was revealed that the left main landing forward gear tube had collapsed, which resulted in substantial damage to the landing gear mounting bracket.

View of left main landing gear mounting bracket (NTSB photo courtesy of the pilot)
View of left main landing forward gear tube (NTSB photo courtesy of the pilot)

NTSB Final Report

NTSB Docket

Ron Wanttaja
Ron Wanttaja
Ron Wanttaja is a retired space systems engineer. During a 40-year career, he helped design, build, test, launch, and operate 18 spacecraft, including the International Space Station. On the aviation side, he has owned a Bowers Fly Baby since 1996 and flew the original prototype for seven years before acquiring his own. He lives just outside of Portland, Oregon, with his wife, romance novelist Lisa McAllister.

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Ed Thompson
Ed Thompson
20 days ago

…but, why did it collapse?

Frank Vincent Tino
Frank Vincent Tino
Reply to  Ed Thompson
20 days ago

PROBABLY a hard landing on a rough surface.

Ron Wanttaja
Reply to  Ed Thompson
20 days ago

Hard to say, and the NTSB report doesn’t go into it very far. Frank might be right. If you look at the photos in the docket, there’s one showing a cracked bit of tube that has some rust. Yet that cracked bit isn’t displaced, as you’d expect if it caused the gear to fail.

kitfox
Ron Wanttaja
Reply to  Ron Wanttaja
20 days ago

The other photo from the docket….

kitfox2
Ed Thompson
Ed Thompson
Reply to  Ron Wanttaja
20 days ago

Thanks, Ron.