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ANC91IA046

1991-03-27 · ANCHORAGE, Alaska, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport ANC

N173RV has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (VAN'S AIRCRAFT RV-12IS, built 2025), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

A JAMMED NOSE GEAR DUE TO INCORRECT INSTALLATION OF THE SHEAR PIN. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE INSUFFICIENTLY DEFINED MAINTENANCE PROCEDURE.

Factual narrative

THE CREW OF FOUR WERE ON A TRAINING FLIGHT AND WERE PREPARING TO PERFORM APPROACH TO LANDING STALLS. DURING THE MANEUVER, THEY NOTICED THE NOSE GEAR WOULD NOT EXTEND. UNABLE TO EXTEND THE NOSE GEAR, THEY LANDED WITH THE NOSE GEAR UP CAUSING MINOR DAMAGE TO THE AIRPLANE. SUBSEQUENT EXAMINATION REVEALED THAT THE RIVETS WHICH RETAIN THE CENTERING CAM SHEAR PINS WERE SHEARED. THE SHEAR PINS WERE NOT SHEARED. AN EXAMINATION BY MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, NAGOYA AIRPLANE WORKS, INDICATED THAT THE SHEAR PINS MAY HAVE BEEN INSTALLED IN REVERSE. THE OVERHAUL MANUAL ALSO CONTAINED AMBIGUOUS INFORMATION CONCERNING THE INFORMATION. THE GRAPHICAL DISPLAY SHOWED THE INSTALLATION INCORRECTLY, BUT THE TEXT EXPLAINED THE INSTALLATION CORRECTLY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_ANC91IA046.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, maintenance). All research papers