Narrative:

I was doing landing practice with a student. The airport has two runways. The winds favored runway xa; but it was closed for construction. We were approved for touch and goes. We took off for runway xb; did our pattern; and came back to land on xb. We had a direct crosswind at about 10 knots. My student was relatively inexperienced with crosswinds. The touchdown on the mains was a little rough; but still okay. We put the nose down normally; and heard grinding. The student verbalized that he was giving me the controls. I lifted the nose and slowly put it back down again. The grinding repeated and the aircraft decelerated sharply. The nearest runway exit was too far and we shut down on the runway. I called that we were disabled on tower frequency. We were disabled on xb; and runway xa was closed for construction. All operations were stopped. At least 4 aircraft were told to hold in or outside the airspace; and at least one departure was delayed. Airport rescue came out and we exited the aircraft. I looked at the nose wheel and saw that the pin holding the wheel into the gear had come out. The wheel slipped out and jammed sideways. It was not flat. We lifted the nose by pushing down the tail; and pushed the aircraft onto the inactive runway so operations could continue. The preflight inspection was performed mainly by my student; who has preflighted this plane about 10 times before. He is very thorough; having once been an a&P. I checked the fuel and oil; as well as an overall visual inspection before departure. We suspect the pin holding in the wheel may have been missing all along and it was missed during the preflight. This would be a very easy item to miss since the pin is imbedded in a small opening. The FAA came to investigate after I was back at my flight school. They asked me to explain what had happened. They said there has been a recent spree of tire failures and they are trying to figure out why. I suspect this airport has had a spree of tire failures because of the construction. Not so much from debris; but from runway closures. Having one runway closed has become a very regular thing here; if not for construction then for something else. This means an especially high percentage of crosswind landings done by student pilots; putting extra wear and tear on the tires... And more failures. The FAA asked to see my medical and certificate. I showed the inspector; who commented that I had a second class medical with third class privileges. He said I could not be paid for flight instruction with 3rd class privileges. A check of the regulations showed that a flight instructor needs 3rd class privileges. The inspector said yes; but if I am getting paid for instruction; then I need 2nd class privileges. There is no place in the regulations that clearly states this. The inspector said he would look into it and get back to me. I called a medical examiner and got an emergency appointment for that evening. I now have a new 2nd class medical; however; the inspector now seems to take my side that I only need 3rd class privileges since I am getting paid as a teacher- not as a pilot.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DA20 Instructor and Student; close airport after their airplane becomes disabled during landing when the nosewheel became jammed sideways in the nose gear.

Narrative: I was doing landing practice with a student. The airport has two runways. The winds favored Runway XA; but it was closed for construction. We were approved for touch and goes. We took off for Runway XB; did our pattern; and came back to land on XB. We had a direct crosswind at about 10 knots. My student was relatively inexperienced with crosswinds. The touchdown on the mains was a little rough; but still okay. We put the nose down normally; and heard grinding. The student verbalized that he was giving me the controls. I lifted the nose and slowly put it back down again. The grinding repeated and the aircraft decelerated sharply. The nearest runway exit was too far and we shut down on the runway. I called that we were disabled on tower frequency. We were disabled on XB; and Runway XA was closed for construction. All operations were stopped. At least 4 aircraft were told to hold in or outside the airspace; and at least one departure was delayed. Airport rescue came out and we exited the aircraft. I looked at the nose wheel and saw that the pin holding the wheel into the gear had come out. The wheel slipped out and jammed sideways. It was not flat. We lifted the nose by pushing down the tail; and pushed the aircraft onto the inactive runway so operations could continue. The preflight inspection was performed mainly by my student; who has preflighted this plane about 10 times before. He is very thorough; having once been an A&P. I checked the fuel and oil; as well as an overall visual inspection before departure. We suspect the pin holding in the wheel may have been missing all along and it was missed during the preflight. This would be a very easy item to miss since the pin is imbedded in a small opening. The FAA came to investigate after I was back at my flight school. They asked me to explain what had happened. They said there has been a recent spree of tire failures and they are trying to figure out why. I suspect this airport has had a spree of tire failures because of the construction. Not so much from debris; but from runway closures. Having one runway closed has become a very regular thing here; if not for construction then for something else. This means an especially high percentage of crosswind landings done by student pilots; putting extra wear and tear on the tires... and more failures. The FAA asked to see my medical and certificate. I showed the Inspector; who commented that I had a second class medical with third class privileges. He said I could not be paid for flight instruction with 3rd class privileges. A check of the regulations showed that a flight instructor needs 3rd class privileges. The Inspector said yes; but if I am getting paid for instruction; then I need 2nd class privileges. There is no place in the regulations that clearly states this. The Inspector said he would look into it and get back to me. I called a medical examiner and got an emergency appointment for that evening. I now have a new 2nd class medical; however; the Inspector now seems to take my side that I only need 3rd class privileges since I am getting paid as a teacher- not as a pilot.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.