NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR12CA401
Registry · N4798Z
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
PIPER PA-22-108
Year of manufacture
1961 · 51 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING 0-235 SERIES (115 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19610328
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A5E611
Registrant of record
ANDERSON DAVID J
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s inadequate postmaintenance and preflight inspections, which resulted in the separation of the left main wheel after takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the improperly secured left main wheel spindle nut.
Factual narrative
After departure from an uncontrolled airport, the pilot was advised by personnel at the airport that they saw the left main wheel and tire fall off the airplane. The pilot decided to continue to the accident airport. After flying around to decrease the amount of fuel on the airplane, he landed using runway 30. The airplane pulled to the right until it departed the right side of the runway and tipped onto its nose. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing spar. The pilot reported that he examined the main wheel bearings 2 days prior to the accident for the correct spindle nut tension. He believes that the left wheel spindle nut cotter pin was inadvertently omitted or not installed correctly during the wheel reinstallation on the airplane. He said that a more thorough inspection of the wheel bearing service work should have been performed, and that a more thorough pre-flight inspection could have caught the problem. After departure from an uncontrolled airport, ground personnel advised the pilot that they saw the left main wheel and tire fall off the airplane. The pilot decided to continue flight to a nearby controlled airport, where, after flying around to decrease the amount of fuel on the airplane, he landed. The airplane departed the right side of the runway and tipped onto its nose, which substantially damaged the right wing spar. The pilot reported that he observed no anomalies when he examined the main wheel bearings for the correct spindle nut tension 2 days before the accident. However, he believes that the left wheel spindle nut cotter pin was inadvertently omitted or not installed correctly when he reinstalled the wheel on the airplane. He said that a more thorough inspection of the wheel bearing service work should have been performed, and that a more thorough preflight inspection could have caught the problem. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Landing gear system-Landing gear/wheel fairing-Inadequate inspection - C
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Inspection-Preflight inspection-Pilot - C
- F Aircraft-Fluids/misc hardware-Misc hardware-(general)-Incorrect service/maintenance - F
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2012_WPR12CA401.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 (stall, 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.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
The Value of Strong Partnerships to Build a Successful Aviation Maintenance Career Pathway Program for Transitioning Military Service Members
The aerospace industry is competing with other industries for a qualified workforce, and many of those competing industries are investing heavily in creating workforce development pipelines.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2026 · Journal article (IJAAA)
From Reactive to Predictive: A hybrid Trust-Mediated Adoption Framework for Data-Driven Maintenance in Distributed-Authority Aviation Environments
Modern aviation maintenance operates within increasingly data-intensive technological environments, yet the operational integration of predictive maintenance into routine decision-making remains incon…
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- Semantic Scholar 2025 · Article (Applied Sciences)
Decision-Making Framework for Aviation Safety in Predictive Maintenance Strategies
The implementation of predictive maintenance (PM) in aviation presents unique challenges due to strict safety requirements, complex operational environments, and regulatory constraints.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
Low-Resource Automatic Speech Recognition Domain Adaptation – A Case-Study in Aviation Maintenance
With timeliness and efficiency being critical in the aviation maintenance industry, the need has been growing for smart technological solutions that optimize and streamline the different underlying ta…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2024 · Journal article (JAAER)
A New Trajectory in UAV Safety: Leveraging Reinforcement Learning for Distance Maintenance Under Wind Variations
In the field of aviation, safety is a critical cornerstone, and the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems is deeply connected with this principle.
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