Beech 1900D incident near Denver International Airport, Colorado, February 17, 2012
On February 17, 2012 at about 3:30 pm local time, a Beech 1900D, registered N210GL, suffered minor damage in an incident during standing near Denver International Airport, Colorado (Denver International Airport). It was flown under scheduled airline rules (Part 121). The NTSB record does not give the injuries.
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
A failure of the nose landing gear end cap due to fatigue. Contributing to the failure were the ineffective inspection and the unknown effect of grain direction on fatigue life.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- February 17, 2012 · about 3:30 pm local time
- Place
- Denver International Airport, Colorado · Denver International Airport · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- The NTSB record does not give the injuries.
- Weather
- not recorded
- Aircraft
- Beech 1900D · all 1900Ds on the register
- Registration
- N210GL · no longer on the register · serial UE-210
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Flight · scheduled airline rules (Part 121)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
During a post flight inspection the pilot discovered a hydraulic leak on the nose landing gear that was emanating from a crack in the nose landing gear end cap. The end cap was examined and found to have failed in fatigue that initiated from multiple origins at an internal diameter. The fatigue had propagated significantly into the wall thickness of the end cap and through the thickness at one location. The striation count revealed that the fatigue crack had initiated and been growing in the end cap for at least 15,305 cycles. The end cap had been inspected using an ultrasonic method recommended by the manufacturer 337 cycles prior to the incident. The crack was present at the time of the inspection which indicated that the inspection method was ineffective in detecting the crack. The timing of the end cap inspection was in compliance with the manufacturer’s recommendation. Examination of the microstructure of the material revealed that the longitudinal grain direction was oriented parallel to the shuttle valve bore in the end cap. Resistance to fatigue can be improved by aligning the principle tension stresses in the end cap with the longitudinal grain direction. It is probable that the manufacturer had determined that the grain direction was a contributing factor to fatigue failure in the end cap and revised the end cap drawing to require a grain direction along the longitudinal axis of the end cap in February 2010. No engineering data to support the drawing revision was made available.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
What happened, in order
- Aircraft inspection event during standing
- Sys/Comp malf/fail (non-power) defining event
The NTSB's findings
- cause Aircraft › Aircraft systems › Landing gear system › Nose/tail landing gear › Failure
- factor Organizational issues › Management › Policy/procedure › Adequacy of policy/proc › Manufacturer
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 32,365 hours
- Seats: 19
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine 1: P&W Canada PT6A-6 SERIES (turboprop); 0 hours total
- Engine 2: P&W Canada PT6A-6 SERIES (turboprop); 0 hours total
- Operator: Great Lakes Airlines
The flight
- Departed from: KLAR Laramie WY at 2:00 pm
- Destination: KDEN Denver CO
- Flight plan: IFR
- A second pilot was aboard
Weather at the time
- Temperature: 0°F (-18°C), dew point 0°F (-18°C)
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Other NTSB records under N210GL the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.