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A veze nose gear collapsed on touchdown because the worm gear extension teeth were stripped.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1046317 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201210 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Amateur/Home Built/Experimental |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Landing |
| Route In Use | Visual Approach |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Nose Gear |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 470 Flight Crew Type 150 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical |
Narrative:
The nose gear of a canard pusher experimental aircraft collapsed on touchdown and landing rollout. Touchdown was not harder than usual. I shut down the engine and advised ATC by radio that this had occurred; and the following aircraft was sent around. I advised ATC that I would have to get out of the aircraft and push it clear of the runway. They acknowledged and asked that I report clear; I did so. Tower asked me to monitor ground control frequency as I pushed the aircraft further about 200 ft to the ramp. I did as requested and ground control called to confirm that I was 'in the parking area'. I confirmed that I was clear of the movement area; pushed the aircraft to my hangar and secured it. The rutan-style canard pusher aircraft (varieze and long ez) feature a hand-cranked worm gear mechanism as the standard method of raising and lowering the gear. On examination of the mechanism it was evident that the worm gear had stripped its teeth and this was the cause of the collapse. This has been known to occur with other rutan-style canard pusher aircraft using the same mechanism; with no obvious warning signs. Suggest preventative replacement of the gear with one made from a stronger/tougher alloy.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A VEZE nose gear collapsed on touchdown because the worm gear extension teeth were stripped.
Narrative: The nose gear of a canard pusher experimental aircraft collapsed on touchdown and landing rollout. Touchdown was not harder than usual. I shut down the engine and advised ATC by radio that this had occurred; and the following aircraft was sent around. I advised ATC that I would have to get out of the aircraft and push it clear of the runway. They acknowledged and asked that I report clear; I did so. Tower asked me to monitor Ground Control frequency as I pushed the aircraft further about 200 FT to the ramp. I did as requested and Ground Control called to confirm that I was 'in the parking area'. I confirmed that I was clear of the movement area; pushed the aircraft to my hangar and secured it. The Rutan-style canard pusher aircraft (VariEze and Long EZ) feature a hand-cranked worm gear mechanism as the standard method of raising and lowering the gear. On examination of the mechanism it was evident that the worm gear had stripped its teeth and this was the cause of the collapse. This has been known to occur with other Rutan-style canard pusher aircraft using the same mechanism; with no obvious warning signs. Suggest preventative replacement of the gear with one made from a stronger/tougher alloy.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.