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Atlas / NTSB / FTW98LA280

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW98LA280

1998-06-18 SHREVEPORT, Louisiana, United States Airport · SHV None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N4038B

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BELLANCA 17-30A

Year of manufacture

1976 · 22 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR IO 520 SERIES (285 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A4BB38

Registrant of record

HARRIS JAMES THOMAS

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The collapsed nose gear as a result of failure of the nose gear locking mechanism.

Factual narrative

On June 18, 1998, at 1715 central daylight time, a Bellanca 17-30A airplane, N4038B, was substantially damaged following a loss of control while landing near Shreveport, Louisiana. The airline transport rated pilot, sole occupant of the airplane, was not injured. The airplane was owned and operated by the pilot under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a VFR flight plan was filed. The personal flight originated from the Nashville International Airport (BNA) at 1400 central daylight time. The pilot reported that after a "normal approach" to runway 23 at the Shreveport Regional Airport (SHV), the aircraft pulled "sharply" to the right during the landing roll. The airplane departed the right side of the runway, struck a taxi sign and taxi light and came to rest in the upright position. The pilot/owner reported that the right wing spar was damaged, and the nose gear "collapsed in reverse direction". He stated that personnel from a local maintenance facility inspected the aircraft after the accident. They reported that the down spring loaded rod assembly had failed, which allowed the nose gear to collapse. The pilot reported that after a 'normal approach' to runway 23 at the Shreveport Regional Airport (SHV), the aircraft pulled 'sharply' to the right during the landing roll. The airplane departed the right side of the runway, struck a taxi sign and taxi light and came to rest in the upright position. The pilot/owner reported that the right wing spar was damaged, and the nose gear 'collapsed in reverse direction.' A local maintenance facility inspected the aircraft and found that the down spring loaded rod assembly had failed, allowing the nose gear to collapse. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1998_FTW98LA280.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control, maintenance). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗