Aircraft loses Left Gear upon touchdown at Oshkosh

August 27, 2024 — Aerocomp VM-1 Esqual N151GH — Oshkosh, Wisconsin

During pattern work at Oshkosh, the Esqual completed two low approaches before a third approach ended with touchdown. When power was added and the flaps were retracted, the aircraft lifted off before reaching normal rotation speed. It settled back onto the runway, damaging the left main landing gear. The left wheel separated and struck the horizontal stabilizer. A second pilot then landed the aircraft.

The wheel separation followed a premature rotation

The final NTSB report states that N151GH had already completed two stabilized low approaches without touching down. On the third approach, the airplane landed, power was added and the flaps were retracted as the crew prepared for another takeoff. Before rotation speed and before the flaps had fully retracted, the pilot rotated.

The airplane lifted off but settled back onto the runway. The resulting side load broke the left main-gear axle. The wheel separated and struck the horizontal stabilizer, producing substantial damage to the left side of the fuselage near the stabilizer attachment point.

The tower confirmed that the left wheel was gone. The second pilot subsequently landed the aircraft without further incident. The NTSB report also records that no mechanical anomaly was identified that would have prevented normal operation before the event.

The final probable-cause finding therefore does not blame a hidden landing-gear defect. It identifies premature rotation as the initiating action, followed by the aircraft settling back onto the runway and the wheel separating.

The report records that the airplane had made two low approaches before the landing and takeoff sequence in which the wheel separated. That context matters because the accident did not begin with an unexpected landing-gear malfunction. The critical sequence began after touchdown, when the airplane was transitioned into another takeoff while the flaps were still retracting. The airplane's subsequent return to the runway created the side load that broke the axle. The second pilot's landing then prevented the missing wheel from producing a more serious loss of control.

The final report's short causal chain is important for readers because the airplane did not lose the wheel during an ordinary touchdown. It lost the wheel after a premature rotation, a return to the runway and a side load on the landing gear. The second pilot then demonstrated that the aircraft remained controllable enough to complete the landing despite the missing wheel and structural damage.

“The pilots premature rotation during takeoff which resulted in the airplane settling back to the runway and the subsequent separation of the left wheel.”

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