NTSB ERA21LA385 — 2021-09-29 · Brooksville, Florida, United States

Current FAA registration · N68TW

Make / Model: DOAN VERNON D W10-WITTMAN TAILWIND
Seats / Engines: 2 seats · 1 engine
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A9029C

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N68TW DOAN VERNON D W10-WITTMAN TAILWIND None

Probable cause & findings

The failure of the nose landing gear retention bolt during taxi which resulted in a loss of control and subsequent impact with the taxiway.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that after landing, he applied the brakes and felt a “violent shimmy.” He released the brakes and the nose landing gear leg rotated left and aft which resulted in the right wing impacting the runway surface. A post-accident examination revealed that the nose landing gear retention bolt had sheared and the airplane had sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The pilot stated that he was the second owner and noticed that the original builder had not followed the design plans for the airplane, so the pilot modified the nose wheel attach plate to strengthen it but did not modify the gear assembly attach point which resulted in the failure. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

— Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Landing gear system-Nose/tail landing gear-Failure
— Personnel issues-Task performance-Maintenance-Modification/alteration-Owner/builder
— Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Attain/maintain not possible

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA385.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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