N9855ACessna 195A · 1950

On July 30, 2023, at 2030 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 195A, N9855A, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Laconia, New Hampshire. The airline transport pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

In a written statement, the pilot said that he completed the final, 3-hour leg of a multi-leg cross-country flight and landed 1 hour after official sunset. The pilot described a “routine” 3-point landing in the tailwheel-equipped airplane in “perfect” weather conditions. During the landing roll, about 1,200 ft down runway 26, the airplane “suddenly turned sharply to the right.” The pilot applied “full brakes” but was unable to arrest the turn. The airplane departed the right side of the runway and came to rest on a 160° heading, with the left main landing gear folded beneath the fuselage. There were no witnesses. Surveillance video of the airplane’s final approach was captured by a camera about 1 mile from the approach end of the runway and lacked the definition to depict the accident sequence.

In an interview with a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aviation safety inspector, the pilot initially reported that the airplane ground looped and then later suggested the “left main gear wheel locked up” and then suggested the “right brake likely stuck.”

Photographs of the accident site depicted dark, arcing tire marks on the runway surface that continued into the grass and ended at the left main landing gear. Tire marks aligned with the right main landing gear began in the grass at the runway edge and terminated at the right main landing gear tire. Buckling of the right wing, fuselage, and the main landing gear mount structure revealed substantial damage in those areas.

The pilot held airline transport and flight engineer certificates with ratings in both single and multiengine airplanes. The pilot completed the requirements for operation under BasicMed on June 3, 2022. The pilot declared 20,941 total hours of flight experience, of which 953 hours were in the accident airplane make and model. According to the FAA inspector and the pilot’s reported flight time, the pilot did not have any recent night flight time experience.

According to FAA and maintenance records, the airplane was manufactured in 1950 and was powered by a Jacobs R755S, 350-horsepower engine. The airplane’s most recent annual inspection was completed May 23, 2023, at 3,370.5 total aircraft hours.

Examination of the airplane by the FAA inspector revealed no preimpact mechanical anomalies.

The left main landing gear wheel and tire, mounting hardware, and shims were retained and forwarded to the National Transportation Safety Board Materials Laboratory in Washington, DC. The examination revealed that two of the three mounting studs were fractured and displayed features consistent with “shear/bending overstress fractures.” The third stud remained intact, but the attachment nut was missing, and the threads were “stripped” and “smeared.”