N653GS

On July 14, 2023, at 1930 central daylight time, a Cirrus SR20, N653GS, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at the Delaware County Regional Airport (MIE) in Muncie, Indiana. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The pilot reported that upon touchdown, the airplane veered left, and the nosewheel began to shimmy. The pilot applied full right rudder to keep the airplane on the runway but the airplane exited the left side of the runway, rolled down a small hill, and came to rest in a drainage ditch. The pilot stated that he believed the left main landing gear tire seized due to a mechanical malfunction, which caused the airplane to veer to the left.

Substantial damage was not found until February 15, 2024, when the airplane underwent an annual inspection. During the annual inspection, a crack was found in the lower fuselage behind the pilot seat that ran up the aft spar to the back passenger seat.

A postaccident examination revealed that the left wheel bearing lacked sufficient grease, which resulted in the left wheel seizure. The airplane had an annual inspection in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in September 2022. According to the Cirrus SR20 Airplane Maintenance Manual section 05-20, part of the annual inspection includes repacking the wheel bearings with grease. The mechanic who signed off on the annual inspection stated that greasing the wheel bearings would have been part of the annual inspection checklist, but he could not recall whether the wheel bearings had been greased. The airframe annual inspection logbook entry indicated that the inspection was completed in accordance with Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 43, with the manufacturer maintenance manual as a guide.