ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 205714
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| Date: | Wednesday 31 January 2018 |
| Time: | 15:15 |
| Type: |  Cessna U206G |
| Owner/operator: | Bush Pilots Australia |
| Registration: | VH-WZX |
| MSN: | U20605982 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | Apollo Bay, VIC -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Apollo Bay, VIC |
| Apollo Bay, VIC | |
| Investigating agency: | ATSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On 31 January 2018, a Cessna U206G, registered VH-WZX, was operated by Bush Pilots Australia for a charter passenger scenic flight from Apollo Bay Airfield, Victoria. The scenic flight was over the Twelve Apostles Marine National Park, Victoria, and return to Apollo Bay. There were a pilot and five passengers on board.
At about 15:15 local time, the flight returned to Apollo Bay. The pilot observed the windsock indicating the wind direction as varying between a south-westerly and a south-easterly and elected to use runway 27 for landing, as this provided an uphill slope.
Runway 27 was a 740 m long and 6 m wide sealed runway. A grass fly-over area adjoined the sealed runway along its northern edge. The runway had an overall uphill slope of 2 per cent, however, the slope was not constant along the runway. The first half of the runway had little gradient. About half way along the runway, the slope increased, before increasing further over about the final quarter of the runway. The runway ended on the upslope of a hill. About 35 m from the end of the runway, the airfield boundary was defined by a wire fence. Beyond the fence, the slope gradient reduced over clear ground for about 80 m until reaching the top of the hill. The ground then descended into a valley.
The pilot assessed the wind strength to be about 5–10 kt with gusts up to 15 kt and anticipated a left crosswind during the landing. The pilot conducted a normal approach and positioned the aircraft on the final approach leg at a speed of about 70 kt, with full flap selected.
The aircraft touched down in the normal touch down zone and bounced. The aircraft floated, and the pilot used a slight increase in power to stabilise the aircraft to complete the landing. The aircraft continued to float along the runway and drifted right, over the adjacent grass fly-over area, and a passenger reported that the aircraft bounced a second time. With about one quarter of the runway remaining, the aircraft touched down on the grass and again bounced.
Assessing that insufficient runway length remained to complete the landing, the pilot elected to conduct a go-around. The pilot applied full power and recalled the aircraft nose pitched up to a high attitude. The pilot observed that the aircraft did not climb away from the rising ground as expected, and as the aircraft passed the end of the runway at low height, he retracted the flaps one stage to 20 degrees in an attempt to improve climb performance. The aircraft did not climb sufficiently to clear the airfield boundary fence and the left undercarriage leg struck the fence, sustaining minor damage, including fracturing the brake line.
After striking the fence, the aircraft continued flying. The upslope on the hill reduced and then the ground started to descend into a valley. The pilot advised that the climb performance degraded and he elected to retract the flaps a further stage to 10 degrees. The flap retraction resulted in a significant loss of lift and the aircraft descended. The pilot identified trees in front of the aircraft and banked the aircraft right to turn away from a larger group of trees. While turning, the right wingtip struck the canopy of a single tree positioned about 225 m beyond the end of runway 27.
After impacting the tree, the aircraft accelerated over the descending terrain and then began to climb. The pilot then completed a left circuit for runway 27 and landed without further incident.
No persons were injured during the incident and the aircraft sustained minor damage to the left main landing gear and right wing.
Findings
The go-around commenced late during the landing and the pilot did not immediately follow the go-around procedure. These factors, combined with the heavy aircraft weight and rising terrain, reduced obstacle clearance and the aircraft struck the airfield boundary fence.
After the aircraft struck the fence, the go-around procedure was not followed and the flaps were retracted to the 10-degree setting. Following the flap retraction, the aircraft descended and struck the canopy of a tree.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2018/aair/ao-2018-013/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-Feb-2018 10:40 | Pineapple | Added |
| 03-May-2018 19:41 | harro | Updated [Nature, Narrative] |
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