are fitted with compatible equipment. A
hazard of relying on such electronic aids is
that a pilot may concentrate on aircraft
that the system has detected to the
detriment of looking for other aircraft that
do not have the equipment fitted.
‘The UK Airprox Board has
recommended that the CAA should
promote the production, and mandate the
use of, a lightweight transponder. In
response, the CAA considered Mode S
transponders to be the most appropriate
equipment, but following consultation with
the aviation community, decided not to
mandate their use in uncontrolled
airspace. The principal arguments against
such transponders are their relatively high
power consumption, cost, and weight
penalty. These arguments are not as
strong for equipment such as FLARM14
(collision avoidance device), which is not
utilised by ground-based radars, but
intended to alert pilots to nearby aircraft,
[but] for such systems to be effective it
would be necessary for all aircraft
operating in uncontrolled airspace to be
fitted with compatible equipment.’
Safety Matters | Compiled by Mike Jerram
http://www.pilotweb.aero Pilot April 2015 | 87BRIEFS
CHIPMUNK NIBBLES FENCE
The Chipmunk had arrived at Goodwood for
the annual ‘ChipFest’ event. Its pilot was
manoeuvring in the designated temporary
parking area when the aircraft struck a
permanent wooden fence. It had been
pointing approximately in-line with the
direction of the fence, which probably made
it less obvious to the pilot. The aerodrome
manager is currently reviewing the markings
for obstacles for fly-in events. ROBIN CAUGHT SHORT
The pilot of the Robin DR400 Regent had
landed on the 700m long private grass strip
15/33 once before. Due to the runway’s
slope, arrivals are typically from the south
and he had noted that the northern end of
the runway was undulating. So, on this flight
he intended to touch down near the
southern threshold and selected an aiming
point and speed to achieve this, but
misidentified the threshold. The aircraft
touched down 25m short of the runway, on
soft ground and the nosewheel leg collapsed.
The aircraft was damaged but the pilot was
not injured. As the strip was private, there
was no requirement to mark the runway. He
reported that surrounding crop had been cut
for hay, and this led to him mistaking a line
in the cut hay for the start of the runway.
CAA Safety Sense Leaflet 12 Strip Flying
offers advice for operating from private
strips, including assessing the strip.PHOTO: ALAN GARDENER ARCHIVEUsed in the Spring edition’s ‘Safety Matters’ only to illustrate the PA-28 as a type, G-NINC
was emphatically not the individual aircraft involved in the ‘Fumes in the cockpit’ brief
alongside which it appeared, nor did it figure in the same issue’s ‘Black Spot’ ILAFFTUnexplained power loss
Aircraft Type: Cessna 172M Skyhawk
Date & Time: 27 September 2014
Commander’s Flying Experience: Light
Aircraft Pilots Licence, 1,463 hours,
1,432 on type
Last 90 days: 14 hours
Last 28 days: 4 hours
The aircraft was flying between Leicester
and Manchester-Barton aerodromes at
1,200ft when, without warning, there was a
sudden loss of engine power. The pilot
confirmed that the mixture control was at
fully rich and applied full carburettor heat,
but this had no noticeable effect. Unable to
maintain altitude, he made a Mayday call
to Manchester ATC and selected a field for
a forced landing. It was level and of
suitable size, although it had trees running
across the near boundary. As the aircraft
neared the field, the pilot judged that it
would not clear the trees, so he returned
the carburettor heat to cold and applied
full throttle to go-around, but the engine
did not respond.
A wingtip struck a tree, the aircraft lost
speed rapidly and stalled and struck the
ground. It came to rest on its left side. The
passenger’s door had opened during the
accident sequence, allowing the passenger
to escape through it. The pilot escaped
through a gap between his door and the
windscreen aperture. He had only minor
injuries, but his passenger suffered a
complex knee fracture.
The pilot believed that the loss of power
had been caused by a restriction in the fuel
supply. He recognised that carburettor
icing was a possibility but thought this less
likely as the aircraft had not exhibited
signs of an icing problem. In his fourteen
years of flying it, the carburettor icing he’d
experienced in a Cessna 182 gave very
different indications, and the carburettor
temperature gauge showed a reading
outside the caution range. He also noted
that his passenger later reported hearingan unusual noise coincident with the loss
of power, although he had not noticed it.Under pressure
Date & Time: 18 September 2014 at 1400
Commander’s Flying Experience: PPL, 160
hours, six on type
Last 90 days: 4 hours
Last 28 days: 1 hour
The pilot was on a local flight from
Fenland. On departure the surface wind
was 10kt/310°, visibility 5,000m with
some haze. As the aircraft flew north, she
met with a lowering cloud base and
worsening visibility, so she decided to
return to the airfield, where the 600m
grass Rwy 36 was in use and made a
downwind join. Because of the reducing
visibility she kept her circuit pattern
closer to the airfield than normal, and
this, combined with only a light headwind,
placed the aircraft high on final.
Whilst the pilot was reluctant to go
around in the deteriorating visibility, she
prepared to do so, but then changed her
mind, believing that a safe landing could be
still achieved within the runway’s length, so
continued the approach. She flared the
about one-third of the way along the
runway. The aircraft bounced, and its
nosewheel struck the ground and
collapsed. The pilot attributed the bounced
landing to an error of judgement at the
point of flare.
‘The worsening weather placed the pilot
under pressure to make a safe landing
without undue delay,’ says the AAIB.
‘Departing from the normal or familiar
visual circuit pattern may have reduced
her capacity to identify and deal with
additional factors, such as the light
headwind and high approach.’ The AAIB
has reported previously on ‘precautionary’
landings that have resulted in high and fast
approaches, leading to a landing accident
which is otherwise unrelated to the
original problem.