Duchess 76
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 5.6; Flight Crew Total 366; Flight Crew Type 65
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control
Human Factors; Procedure
[While entering a] left base for Runway XX Left; I was asked if I wanted to change to Runway XX Right for a quicker taxi to parking area; so I accepted the change to Runway XX Right. While doing 90 KTS; I lowered the flaps the final 10 degrees and a heard a loud bang. The flap on the left wing had folded in half toward the fuselage. I applied full right aileron deflection to stay on the extended centerline of the runway. An emergency was not declared as I was focused on getting the airplane back on the ground. After taxiing to parking and inspecting what had happened I noticed that a bolt was left off of the outer hinge of the flap assembly. The airplane had just come out of a 100 hour [maintenance] inspection and I was the first person to fly it. The hinge had fresh paint; I could tell because the smell was quite obvious. There were no marks on the paint that indicated that a bolt had been put back in place and tightened to proper specifications.
The pilot of a BE-76 heard a loud bang after making a final flap extension in preparation for landing. He then observed the left flap was not connected at the outer hinge point. He was able to maintain control of the aircraft and landed safely. During the post flight inspection; he noted that fresh paint on the outboard flap hinge had not been disturbed by the installation of mounting hardware.