DA40 Diamond Star
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Aircraft
I was conducting a part 91 flight under IFR Flight Plan from in VMC conditions. Upon landing in ZZZ and turning off; the aircraft suffered a nose gear failure in the area of the nose gear leg pivot axle which resulted in the propeller striking the ground and the engine stopping. The landing on runway XXR was uneventful and on the main gears the winds were WSW 18.4 mph gusts 26.5 mph. The aircraft decelerated normally and the tower asked via radio if I could turn off on the taxiway. Turning left; the nose gear failed and the nose lowered to the remaining stub of the nose gear leg. This lowered the nose by approximately 10 inches which caused approximately 8 inches of the propeller to contact the concrete runway environment. The engine was running in idle at the time of propeller contact. The engine stopped running after about 20-30 strikes. I did not recognize the propeller strike for about 3 to 5 seconds. It was only after I saw the nose gear laying on the right side of the aircraft and the stopped damaged propeller blades did I understand the issue.The plane stopped on the runway environment. I exited the aircraft and moved the aircraft past the hold short line by pressing down on the tail so that the damages propeller and nose gear leg were lifted and pushed the aircraft clear of the runway environment. I later found out between the incident and the writing of this report that AD 2009-02-04 was issued to address the failure of the nose gear on DA-40s. Also Diamond Aircraft issued Service Information No. SI-40-180 to address the Nose Gear Failure on DA-40s. It appears that this failure is not something that a pilot can detect as the nose gear leg pivot axle is hidden from view in normal operation and the area can only be exposed with the nose gear disassembled.
DA-40 pilot reported a nose gear failure and subsequent prop strike after landing. An airworthiness directive had been issued to address the failure of the nose gear.