Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Multiengine
Air Traffic Control Radar 6; Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120; Flight Crew Total 1200; Flight Crew Type 200
Other / Unknown; Training / Qualification
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Human Factors
My student and I were doing pattern work in an Alarus. We had done 8 touch-and-go's without incident. On the 9th; which was to be a full stop; we touched down mains first; the nose wheel came down; struck the runway and the nose gear fork broke off the strut. The landing wasn't soft; but it wasn't really hard either. We rolled a little ways down the runway and then the nose came down on the strut post; which supported the airplane; but the clearance remaining allowed the prop to strike the surface. I believe the problem arose from metal fatigue between the nose gear strut and the fork. There have been similar reports that I've seen of this event occurring.
An Alarus instructor experiences a nose gear fork failure during landing. The fork with its wheel departed the aircraft allowing the the propeller to contact the ground.