On April 15, 2003, approximately 1920 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA-32RT-300T, N31998, owned and operated by the pilot, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at St. George Municipal Airport, Utah. The private pilot, two pilot certificated passengers, and a third passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the business flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated at Long Beach, California, approximately 1720 Pacific daylight time. According to the pilot, he made a normal straight-in approach to runway 34 and "crossed the fence at about 80 to 90 knots." Just before touchdown, the airplane "ballooned" and touched down "a little harder than normal." The nose gear collapsed and the airplane skidded to a halt about 1,300 feet down the runway. The nose landing gear down-lock was removed and, along with an exemplar down-lock, was sent to NTSB's materials laboratory for examination. According to its report, the down-lock "contained a fracture that intersected the hook portion." Microscopic examination revealed "a river pattern that pointed to the inner bend area of the hook, indicating that this was the origin of the fracture. The fracture face contained features typical of overstress separation, with no evidence of a preexisting (fatigue) crack. The origin area of the fracture contained no evidence of mechanical or corrosion damage. However, contact wear was noted in the throat of the hook."