What happened
The accident occurred while a private pilot was conducting a flight to haul fuel into a remote mountainous airstrip. During the approach for landing, the aircraft encountered a downdraft that caused it to land hard from an altitude of approximately 15 feet above the runway surface.
Upon impact, the airplane bounced back into the air. At this critical moment, the pilot lost visual reference with the runway because he was landing directly into the sun, which created significant glare. Following the loss of visual contact and the bounce, the pilot was unable to maintain control of the aircraft. The airplane departed the side of the runway and crashed. The impact and subsequent fire resulted in the total destruction of the aircraft.
The investigation
Examination of the wreckage confirmed that the airplane was destroyed by fire following the off-airport impact. The sequence of events was driven by the initial hard landing caused by atmospheric conditions and the pilot's inability to maintain visual contact during the bounce due to solar glare.
Findings
Contributing factors to this accident included:
- A downdraft encountered during the final approach phase
- A hard landing from approximately 15 feet above the runway
- The airplane bouncing upon initial touchdown
- Loss of visual reference with the runway due to landing into the sun
- Subsequent loss of control by the pilot
The crash site was located off the side of the runway in a mountainous area. The fuel hauling operation was interrupted by the accident, and the aircraft was destroyed.