Jim’s Analysis
Strangely, there is a lot more to this
than meets the eye.
Right, let’s look at the nitty-gritty.
First, my normal question: could you
see this coming, and if so, when?
Before I answer this, let me
tell you a little story about Victor
Smith. Some may remember him
from his book Open Cockpit Over
Africa. Victor made three attempts
at record-breaking flights between
Cape Town and London in 1932,
1933 and 1936. He flew all his life
and owned, amongst other exciting
aircraft, a Staggerwing Beech and a
400 Comanche.
Many years ago we organised a
fly-in to Wilderness, where Victor
lived and owned a strip on the edge
of the lagoon. I flew in from Port
Elizabeth with my Tiger. When
Victor spotted it he said, in his
usual forthright manner “I am goingto take that aircraft for a flight.”
“Certainly,” I said, “would you
prefer the front or back seat?”
“You are not coming with me,” he
said. Now, I had known Victor for
many years, and apart from being an
exceptional pilot, he had very deep
pockets, so I felt sure I was covered if
he bent it.
Anyhow, on final approach, in
full view of 20 pilots, Victor took
full power and went round again
for another shot at landing. When
I asked him afterwards what went
wrong, he simply said, “I wasn’t
happy with the approach.”
Folks, if Victor can do a go-
around, so can you!
Okay, to get back to my question,
could you see this accident coming?
Certainly you could – possibly on
base or final approach, but definitely
in the latter stages of the approach.
It must have been obvious, even tothe fairly low-hour pilot, that he was
hot and high long before he got into
deep trouble. He claimed “... the
aircraft seemed to float for longer
than he had anticipated.” And then,“About halfway down the runway the
pilot applied power and attempted to
execute a go-around.”
I find that staggering. The
runway was just short of a
kilometre long, and he floats for
half a K before deciding that it is
not all roses. What on earth was
going through his mind?
Why did he wait until he was half
way down the runway? Who knows?If we were in the back seat, I am
sure that long before this, most of
us would have been shouting, “GO
AROUND! GO AROUND! ”
So the answer is, yes, we could
certainly see it coming, in good time
to save the day.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of
important information missing
in this report, including the
weight of the pax and luggage.
That question is probably the
least important because 235s are
unbelievable load carriers. They
are almost impossible to overload
and are one of the few aircraft, of
any size, that is able to carry more
than its own weight. This aircraft
weighed 1435 lbs and had a gross
weight of 2900 lbs! It is a short-
field performer of note.So why wasn’t he able to execute
a go-around? Let’s first look at the
accident investigator’s explanation.
They claim he was “... on the wrong
side of the drag curve ...” Hmm. It
is possible – but it is very difficult
to get a 235 into that situation with
full power. Maybe he had a seriously
high density altitude, and a bunch
of Sumo wrestlers as pax – but that
seems unlikely.A Cherokee Overshoots
Date of Accident: 3 March 2002
Time of Accident: 0720Z
Aircraft Registration: ZS-DUE
Type of Aircraft:
Piper PA-28-235
Pilot-in-command
Licence type: Private
Licence Valid: Ye s
Age: 37
Total Flying Hours: 165.25
Hours on Type: 47. 8
Last point of departure:
Brakpan Aerodrome (FABB).
Next point of intended landing:
Morgenzon
Location of the accident site:
Morgenzon Farm, Private
Aerodrome.
Meteorological Information:
CAVOK
Number of people on board: 1+3
No. of people injured: 1
No. of people killed: 0SYNOPSIS
The pilot and three passengers
were authorised by the farm
owner to land at Morgenzon
Farm Aerodrome.
According to the pilot, the
approach was normal but as
he crossed the threshold and
reduced power, the aircraft
seemed to float for longer than
he had anticipated.
About halfway down the
runway the pilot applied power
and attempted to execute a
go-around. At full power, the
aircraft did not seem to respond
and developed a nose high
attitude, failed to gain height
and crashed approximately 100
m past the end of the runway.
The aircraft collided with a
game fence and came to a halt
in thorny bushes. The starboardwing had separated from the
aircraft and the undercarriage
was destroyed.
The pilot sustained minor
injuries and the passengers
were not injured.PROBABLE CAUSE
The pilot attempted a go-around
after landing too deep. He
allowed the aircraft to end up on
the wrong side of the drag curve
and collided with a game fence.CAA ACCIDENT REPORT SUMMARY
76
AUSTRALIAN FLYING March – April 2015What can we learn?
you have to do something
pretty drastic ... to accomplish
what this guy did.