N63541

On July 4, 2003, about 1046 Alaska daylight time, a wheel-equipped Cessna 172 airplane, N63541, sustained substantial damage when it departed the runway and encountered terrain during landing at the Seldovia Airport, Seldovia, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The private pilot and two passengers were not injured. The airplane was operated by Take Flight Alaska, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska, and was rented by the pilot. The flight originated about 0915 from the Merrill Field Airport, Anchorage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a VFR flight plan was filed.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on July 8, the pilot reported that just after landing on runway 16, he applied heavy braking to slow the airplane before reaching the end of the 1,845-foot long by 60-foot wide, gravel-covered runway. He said that as the airplane tracked down the centerline of the runway for about 900 feet, he noticed that the right hand brake pedal "just went flat." The airplane then veered to the left, towards an occupied Cessna 206 that was stopped on an adjacent taxiway. When the pilot released both brake pedals, the airplane realigned with the runway centerline. As the pilot attempted to stop the airplane, he used a combination of right rudder and the left brake. As the airplane neared the end of the runway, he applied full left brake in an attempt to stop the airplane before reaching the end of the runway. The airplane veered sharply to the left, continued off the left side of the runway and down an embankment. The airplane's right wing struck the ground and sustained structural damage.

The operator reported that during a postaccident inspection of the accident airplane, maintenance crews removed the fiberglass fairing assembly that covers the right main landing gear strut. The inspection revealed that a 6-inch section of the aluminum hydraulic brake line tubing, which is covered by the fiberglass fairing assembly, had chafed through about mid-span between the fuselage and right wheel assembly. Additionally, no hydraulic brake fluid was found in the right hydraulic brake reservoir.

According to the operator, the airplane had accumulated a total time in service of 16,200.2 hours. The airplane was maintained under a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved maintenance inspection program, and the most recent 100-hour inspection was accomplished on June 10, 2003, 56.1 hours before the accident. The last annual inspection was completed on November 18, 2002.

After the accident airplane was ferried to the operator's maintenance facility in Anchorage, an FAA airworthiness inspector, from the Anchorage Flight Standards District Office, inspected the accident airplane, and reviewed the airplane's inspection and maintenance records. The FAA inspector reported that prior to the accident, and in accordance with the manufacturer's recommended inspection intervals, the operator would remove the fiberglass fairing assembly and inspect the aluminum hydraulic brake line tubing every 400 hours, or during the airplane's annual inspection. The FAA inspector added that following the accident, and due to the high hourly utilization of the rental/instruction airplanes in the operator's fleet, the operator now removes the fiberglass fairing assembly to inspect the aluminum hydraulic brake line tubing during each 100-hour inspection.