Preliminary Report: Piper PA-28-181 Tree Strike During Night VFR Approach at SCCH (CC-XXX)

Incident Overview and Context On January 7, 2022, at approximately 23:30 local time, a Piper PA-28-181 aircraft was involved in an aviation occurrence at the General Bernardo O'Higgins Aerodrome (SCCH) in Chillán, Chile. The aircraft was conducting a local Visual Flight Rules (VFR) night practice flight with three occupants on board: the pilot in command, a flight instructor, and a passenger. The flight was planned to cover sectors near San Carlos, Coihueco, Bulnes, and San Nicolás. The pilot in command held a private pilot license for single-engine land aircraft and had a total of 581 hours of flight experience, including 456 hours on the specific aircraft type. The aircraft, a 1979 model Piper PA-28-181 with serial number 28-7990038, had 4,573.2 hours of service and was equipped with a Lycoming O-360-A4M engine and a Sensenich 76EM8S5-0-62 propeller. Maintenance records indicated the aircraft had completed its 50/100-hour and annual inspection on November 5, 2021, with no outstanding issues related to the incident.