NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW96LA347
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
improper flare by the pilot, which resulted in a hard landing, and subsequent overload failure of the nosewheel axle and nose gear.
Factual narrative
On August 16, 1996, at 1125 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 150H, N6935S, sheared off the nose landing gear during a touch-and-go landing at Fort Collins/Loveland Municipal Airport (FNL), Fort Collins , Colorado. The student pilot was not injured and the aircraft sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for this student solo training flight operating under Title 14 CFR Part 91 and no flight plan was filed. The flight departed Fort Collins Downtown Airpark (3V5), approximately 30 minutes prior to the accident. Witness marks, debris on the runway, and the pilot's statement revealed the student was performing a touch-and-go landing at FNL and a landing occurred which sheared off the nose landing gear and damaged the propeller. The flight became airborne following this event and the student pilot, unaware of the damage, flew to the local practice area, spent some period of time practicing maneuvers, then flew the aircraft back to the departure airport, 3V5. During landing at 3V5, further damage was sustained to the remaining portion of the nose landing gear assembly, propeller, and right outer wing leading edge. Examination of the failed nose landing gear axle bolt by a Safety Board metallurgist revealed that the axle bolt failed in overload. During a local area solo training flight, the student pilot flew to another local airport to conduct a touch-and-go landing. A landing occurred which sheared off the nose landing gear and damaged the propeller. The student, apparently unaware of the damage, then flew to the local practice area, conducted maneuvers for an unknown period of time, and proceeded back to the point of origin for a final landing. During the final landing, further damage was sustained to the remains of the nose landing gear assembly, propeller, and the right outer wing leading edge. Examination of the failed nose landing gear axle bolt revealed the bolt failed in overload. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1996_FTW96LA347.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Contractor Report (CR)
Icing Physics Studies Using the 3D SIDRM Test Article: 2023 Icing Tests Analysis
In-flight icing is an important safety issue and is a factor that affects aircraft design and performance. Newer regulations are driving a need for improvements in airframe and engine icing simulation…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for UAV-Assisted 5G Network Slicing: A Comparative Study of MAPPO, MADDPG, and MADQN
The growing demand for robust, scalable wireless networks in the 5G-and-beyond era has led to the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as mobile base stations to enhance coverage in dense urb…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Mathematical Model on the Temporal Dynamics of Aviation Competitive Pricing
This study investigates the competitive dynamics of airport pricing using U.S. airport data to validate the findings. It employs linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equation models to analyze t…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – March 2025
This NASA Icing Update was prepared for presentation to the SAE International AC-9C Inflight Icing Technology Committee. This update includes the following topics: planned Rotational Icing Scaling tes…
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
An energy-stable phase-field model for droplet icing simulations
A phase-field model for three-phase flows is established by combining the Navier-Stokes (NS) and the energy equations, with the Allen-Cahn (AC) and Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equations and is demonstrated ana…
- NASA NTRS 2024 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – Oct 2024
This presentation provides a status update on select NASA icing research activities for the SAE AC-9C Icing Technical Committee Meeting on Oct 21, 2024.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗