On Febuary 19th 9:40 am The pilot accompanied by two passengers took-off from Virginia Aerodrome (South Africa) on a private flight to the GFA (General Flying Area). According to the pilot, on their return leg to Virginia Aerodrome, he executed a normal circuit at 800ft AGL, but on final approach he misjudged the distance to the runway and landed one third after the threshold down the runway on the nose wheel first. The aircraft bounced and he subsequently lost directional control of the aircraft. The aircraft then veered to the left and off the runway colliding with trees approximately 20m to left of the runway. The aircraft sustained substantial damage to the left-hand wing, propeller and cabin area including the tail section. The pilot and both passengers sustained minor injuries.
This story is thanks to the SACAA (The South African Civil Aviation Authority) Their version of our FAA.
Although some of these terms are foreign to us such as GFA and a Aerodrome, the cause of this accident still makes sense world-round.
Our first dilemma is not that our pilot made a poor landing, although that was the ultimate outcome. Yet it was his poor decision to not make a go-around as he or she used more and more runway.
The fact that the pilot landed nose wheel first tells us that the pilot tried to force the airplane down onto the ground.
With excessive speed this caused him to bounce and collide with trees left of the runway.
Never be afraid or ashamed to perform a go-around. This pilots poor decision and forced landing forced only one thing, an accident.
