A gear selector lever had been inspected just 10 days before it broke and forced a light plane to make a wheels-up landing at Napier Airport in April, a report into the incident has found.
The Piper Aztec six-seater was substantially damaged after landing on its belly.
Neither the pilot, an instructor, nor a student pilot was injured in the controlled emergency landing.
The Traffic Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) found the plane, built in 1965, had a pre-existing fatigue crack at a bend in the landing gear selector lever.
Even though the lever had been inspected 10 days and five flying hours earlier, no crack was detected.
Similar faults had occurred in other Aztec planes, the report said.
One operator had experienced a failure just three weeks before the Napier incident, and another several years before.
"These three events occurring, despite regular visual inspections, suggested that such inspections were an unreliable means of detecting any cracking in the levers," the report said.
The TAIC recommended the Civil Aviation Authority require all Piper 23-250 Aztec owners replace the gear selector lever with a new, improved version "as soon as practicable".
- NZPA
Faulty lever inspected just days before emergency landing
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