LOWRY DAVID LANCAIR LEGACY

Full Narrative

On March 16, 2026, about 1257 Pacific daylight time, a Lancair Legacy, N212LG, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Hillsboro, Oregon. The private pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 personal flight.

The pilot stated that after an uneventful local flight he configured the airplane to land on runway 31L. The airplane touched down on the main landing gear and while decelerating, the nose landing gear contacted the runway. The nose gear had a violent shimmy that continued even as the airplane slowed. As the pilot prepared to exit the runway he applied brakes and the nose landing gear subsequently collapsed. The propeller struck the runway surface and the airplane came to rest in a nose-low attitude on the runway. During the accident sequence several of the engine mounts and part of the forward fuselage structural tubing had cracked.

The pilot stated that the landing gear indications in the cockpit showed the gear in the down and locked position. The pilot, who built the airplane and holds a repairman certificate, reported that the nose landing gear incorporated a stainless-steel bushing modification in the over-center hinge. He stated that during the most recent condition inspection, the mechanism appeared to move over-center as intended.

A review of data recorded by the Garmin G3X flight display revealed that at 1254:50, the gear extension cycle was initiated, and the gear remained in transit for about 5 seconds, consistent with an airborne extension. At 1254:56, the data indicated the landing gear was down and locked, with the airplane still airborne. At 1256:25, weight-on-wheels was detected, with no gear fault present. About 12 seconds later the gear-down indication was lost while weight-on-wheels remained active, and a gear fault was recorded. Between 1256:38 and 1256:40, the gear fault indication cleared briefly before returning at 1256:43 when a persistent gear fault was present with a no gear-down indication while the airplane remained sensed as on the ground. The canopy was opened at 1257:04.