BFO96LA019

Factual narrative

On October 24, 1995 at 1024 eastern daylight time, a Cessna T210L, N89EP, sustained substantial damage when the nose gear collapsed during landing at College Park Airport, in College Park, Maryland. The pilot, the sole occupant, was uninjured. The pilot had received a weather briefing and was on an IFR flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and the flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated from the General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, at approximately 0700 eastern daylight time. The pilot reported that during the trip from Boston to College Park, he encountered 25 to 30 knots of headwind and had unexpected delays due to the en route air traffic control system. He stated that because of the delays, he was concerned that he would be late for meetings he had scheduled. Upon arrival at the destination airport, the pilot received an airport advisory that indicated the winds were out of 240 degrees, at 15 knots, with gusts to 25 knots, and the active runway was runway 15. Runway 15 is 2610 feet long, with a displaced threshold of 413 feet, and trees, telephone wires and a railroad track near the end of the runway. The pilot stated that he had been flying out of this airport for approximately a year, and had not made many landings in this direction on the runway. The pilot reported that he encountered moderate to severe turbulence while in the airport traffic pattern. He stated that he increased his approach airspeed by 10 miles per hour and used only partial flaps, to compensate for the turbulence and the crosswind. The pilot stated that the airplane touched down about 50 yards from the approach end of the runway, and bounced. The pilot stated that the airplane was approximately at the runway midpoint when the airplane bounced for the second time. The pilot stated that he felt he did not have enough runway remaining to abort the landing, so he continued to try to stop the airplane. On the third bounce, the nose tire blew, and the airplane veered off the runway onto the soft turf. The nose strut collapsed allowing the propeller to strike the ground. The pilot executed emergency shutdown procedures and exited the airplane. There was no recorded weather at College Park Airport. A weather observation taken at Andrews Air Force Base (approximately 10 miles south southwest from the College Park Airport) at 0955, reported: Temperature-65 degrees; Dewpoint- 56 degrees; winds out of 200 degrees at 13 knots, with gusts to 19 knots. The pilot stated that the accident could have been prevented if he had aborted the landing "...after the first touchdown (bounce)." The pilot reported that he received an airport advisory which indicated winds were out of 240 degrees at 15 knots, with gusts to 25 knots, and the runway in use was 15. He stated that he experienced moderate to severe turbulence in the traffic pattern, so he increased his approach airspeed by 10 MPH and used only 10 degrees of flaps. The pilot stated that the airplane bounced several times during the landing. On the third bounce the nose tire blew, and the airplane veered off the runway onto the soft turf collapsing the nose gear. The pilot stated that the accident could have been avoided if he had performed a go-around when the airplane first touched down (bounced). He also stated he had encountered unexpected delays en route, and was concerned about being late for a meeting. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12