Air Safety

Just before they were married, David had been promoted to service manager of the garage and they had deferred a honeymoon because they wanted to finish renovating the house they had bought just outside West Wyalong. As it was now complete, they intended to visit Brian, David’s best man, who lived on a property outside Gulgong for a couple of weeks and take in the delights of the wine-growing areas that are a feature of that part of New South Wales.

The property they were to spend two relaxing weeks, “Wimpy Downs”, was renowned for its hospitality and had its own airstrip. The intention was to hire a local aircraft from West Wyalong and fly across to “Wimpy Downs” and use it for day trips around the region.

Given the lessons he had learned last year, David intended to plan this visit meticulously. He couldn’t get the Warrior, but a local operator had hired him an older Piper PA-28-140. This time Flight Service could rightfully refer to his aircraft as a Cherokee. Once again he calculated his weight and balance and was pleased to note that with only two people he was well within limits with 20 kilos of baggage, full fuel and Bev weighing in at a trim 50 kilos and himself at 90 kilos. He noticed that the improvement in the cuisine he had been consuming since he married Bev had resulted in him putting on several kilos.

The first part of his planning involved calling Brian and asking for details of the airstrip because, although he had flown into “Wimpy Downs” once before, he had not written down any specifications. Brian advised that the available distance for landing was 500 metres; the surface was short grass which had only been slashed the week before; it was at 1650 feet Above Mean Sea Level; there were no obstructions; the strip direction was 250/070 degrees with a 2 degree downslope when using 250. There was no wind sock.

After his experience last year with marginal weather, he adopted a different approach with weather briefings.

“Bankstown, I intend to undertake a VFR flight from West Wyalong to Gulgong this morning departing at 21OOZ, could you please provide all weather which will influence the flight and an indication of trends during the day?”

On this occasion, he was particularly pleased to note the weather man announcing that it was expected to be eight eights “blue sky” along the whole route and that these conditions would prevail for at least the next three days. The temperature was expected to reach 35 degrees, but “at this time” was a pleasant 27 degrees. QNH was 1025. Wind was 270 degrees, 8 knots. Brian’s swimming pool would be the first stop after unpacking and there was no doubt in David’s mind that this would be followed by a cool tin of an appropriate beverage.

Take-off, climb and cruise were strictly “according to Hoyle”.

This time some young Flight Service Officer was referring to his “stub wing” Cherokee as a Warrior! He would write to the Minister.

Gulgong had once been voted the most boring town in New South Wales, but it was simply for this reason that Bev and David had decided to take their two week break there. They arrived over the top and David reported his descent to Flight Service with an estimate for the circuit at “Wimpy Downs”.

The airstrip was only a few hundred metres from the homestead and was quite easily identified. He cancelled SAR and joined down wind for a landing on 07. He was prepared to accept the slight tailwind so that they could land up the slope.

He completed his pre-landing checks, ensured that he was at correct circuit height and throttled back as he turned onto his Base leg. He was getting a little turbulence off the hill behind the homestead, so he decided to fly a 70-knot final with full flap. He didn’t want any drama on this landing to upset Bev because he was trying to rebuild her confidence in his flying skills.

The approach looked quite good when he was established on final; his airspeed was constant and he could see Brian driving the four-wheel drive out to meet them. That pool wouldn’t be too far away now.

It soon became apparent, however, that he was a little high so he cut the power and pushed the nose down to lose height. His airspeed increased to 75 knots but he pulled the nose up as he went over the fence. Things started to happen quickly.

The airspeed came back to 65 knots, but he was already using up much of the strip. He pulled back on the control wheel further.

Oh no! The aircraft ballooned and Bev let out an audible gasp. He got the nose back down and the aeroplane stabilised. It just didn’t want to land so he forced it onto the ground. His recollection of what happened from there is quite hazy and Bev would not talk about it. However, Brian was able to give a detailed description to the Air Safety Investigator who subsequently came up from Sydney.

Brian said that the aircraft seemed to stabilise after the balloon, but he expected David to go around and try again. Instead, David appeared to force the aircraft onto the ground with about 350 metres of strip left. It bounced off the nose wheel and seemed to remain poised in the air for a matter of seconds, then fell heavily onto all three wheels and began to wheelbarrow on the nose wheel.

The ground loop was by far the most spectacular part of the accident. As the aircraft veered sharply to the left, the nose wheel collapsed in a spray of dust which almost totally enveloped the aeroplane. It then departed the airstrip through a fence that severed the left wing before coming to rest in a wheat crop.

Fortunately neither David or Beverly were hurt, but the aircraft was a total write-off. The balance of the holiday was not what they expected. Most of it was taken up with preparing reports and answering questions, although the first beer went down without touching the sides.

Your turn

David made some obvious mistakes. Now it’s your turn. Use the performance chart and work out the landing distance David required and the speed he should have used.

Get it right. . . !

The first was that he didn’t consult his performance charts. If he had he would have seen that his landing speed should have been about 58 knots for the weight of the aircraft. Carrying the extra speed put him in the position where the landing distance required was a minimum of 570 metres.

He also should have decided to go around the moment he recognised he was too high. Cutting the power and pushing the nose down is of no benefit. In fact his airspeed increased and there was no way that he was going to complete a successful landing under those circumstances. When David bounced the aeroplane, it still wasn’t too late. He had one last chance to abort his landing attempt. However, once he put the aircraft on the strip it was all over.

In addition, David had learnt to fly on a Piper Warrior and although this aircraft was designated PA28 it is a different aircraft with a significantly different wing from the newer model “Cherokee”. Experience shows that it is a more difficult aircraft to land and is more susceptible to wheelbarrowing. This should have been discussed before the flight and he should have flown the aircraft in the circuit at West Wyalong to gain familiarity.

Landing Accidents

I am sure that most pilots would agree that flying the circuit is one of the more demanding segments of any flight.

All pilots, irrespective of experience, have their landing stories. Bureau of Air Safety Investigation accident data also shows that many landing difficulties end up as accidents.

Australia’s general aviation safety record is excellent by any measure. Although Australia averages about 233 accidents per year resulting in about 50 fatalities, this is a fine record.

However, BASI statistics show that about a third of these accidents take place in the approach and landing phase. In 1983, 92 of the 265 accidents were landing accidents. Fortunately, these accidents only resulted in 1O fatalities with 2 persons being seriously injured.

The vast majority of these landing accidents are caused by pilot factors and very few can be attributed to systems failures. The pilot factor most often associated with landing accidents is a misjudgement of height, speed and distance.

Fly the circuit accurately and if you don’t get it right the first time, go around.

Terry Walls describes himself as a “low-time” private pilot who learnt to fly with the Canberra Aero Club. He joined the Department of Aviation in 1983 to assist with the development and implementation of safety education programs and since late last year has undertaken the function of Executive Officer-Safety Education. He is the Secretary of the newly formed AVIAC Committee on Safety Education. Before joining the Department, he had gained extensive experience in public relations, promotion and research positions both within the Commonwealth Public Service and the private sector

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