Cirrus Design Corp. SR20 incident near Jacksonville, Florida, March 11, 2005
On March 11, 2005, a Cirrus Design Corp. SR20, registered N8160C, suffered minor damage in an incident near Jacksonville, Florida (Craig Municipal airport). It was a personal flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 2 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
Inadequate welding procedure by the manufacturer resulting in a poor weld of the nose landing gear and collapse of the nose landing gear during a porpoised landing.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- March 11, 2005
- Place
- Jacksonville, Florida · Craig Municipal · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 2 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Cirrus Design Corp. SR20
- Registration
- N8160C · registry record · serial 1381
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The pilot stated that while approaching to land on runway 5 at Craig Municipal Airport, he approached at a faster than normal airspeed. During the landing flare, the airplane porpoised a couple of times. On the second porpoise, the airplane touched down on the nose and the nose landing gear collapsed. The propeller struck the runway and the airplane skidded to a stop about 10 feet past sand bags, which marked the beginning of a construction zone on the runway. He stated the touch down was not any harder than the occasional hard landings made during flight training. Postincident examination of the nose landing gear showed it had separated at the point the gear is welded to the strut. The airplane's nose landing gear was sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington DC for further inspection. Metallurgical examination of the nose gear revealed the weld between the strut tube and the spindle assembly was inadequate.
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
Pilot
- Certificate: private
- Ratings: single-engine land; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 148 hours in all; 79 in this make and model; 47 in the last 90 days; 38 in the last 30 days
- Last flight review: March 1, 2005
- Medical certificate: Class 3 (without waivers/limitations)
- Seat: left
- Injury: no injuries
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 550 hours
- Last inspection: 100-hour inspection, December 1, 2004; 81 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 3,000 lb
- Seats: 4
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Continental IO-360-ES66 (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: KFPR Fort Pierce FL at 11:45 pm
- Destination: KCRG Jacksonville FL
- Flight plan: IFR
- Runway 5, 4,004 ft by 100 ft
Weather at the time
- Light: dusk
- Wind: from 150° at 6 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: clear
- Temperature: 54°F (12°C), dew point 39°F (4°C)
- Altimeter: 29.89 inHg
- Observation at 11:53 pm from CRG
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 | |||
| Passengers | 1 |
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 N8160C 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.