Amateur-built BARRACUDA accident near Payson, Arizona, October 27, 2012

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The pilot had purchased the experimental, amateur-built airplane from its designer/builder about 32 years after the airplane had been issued its airworthiness certificate. The airplane was the prototype and first-constructed edition of that model. Two years after the purchase, the airplane was damaged on landing due to a problem with the nose landing gear. The pilot subsequently determined that certain nose gear components were of insufficient strength and he had them "repaired and reinforced." About 3 years later, after the airplane had accumulated an undetermined amount of time or cycles since the repairs, the pilot departed on the accident flight, which was a personal cross-country flight, with a passenger. The pilot observed a landing gear annunciation light sequencing abnormality during the gear retraction. The airplane did not experience any additional problems until the pilot selected the landing gear to the extended position and observed that the light indicating that the nose landing gear was down and locked did not illuminate. He conducted a low flyby of the airport, and a ground observer radioed that the nose gear appeared to be fully extended. However, upon landing, first the nose gear and then the two main gear retracted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings. Postaccident examination of the landing gear system did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.

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.