Incident Overview
On August 8, 2019, at 16:30 LMT, a pilot flying a Viper SD-4 RTC departed from Leszno (EPLS) en route to Myślibórz–Giże (EPMZ). Approaching the destination, the pilot received information from Flight Information Service (FIS) that rain was falling in the vicinity of the airport. The pilot decided to avoid the rain and land after a short hold in the air.
Flight Details
The pilot conducted an approach to runway 33 and performed a low pass over the airfield to assess the runway condition and to check wind speed and direction using the windsock. At that moment, the windsock indicated no wind. The pilot chose to land on runway 33, considering it optimal because the approach was over a forest rather than over buildings, and the sun behind the pilot allowed better altitude judgment.
Landing and Damage
During touchdown, the pilot reported a sudden gust or wind shear that caused the aircraft to bounce off the ground. After the bounce, the aircraft touched down again on the main landing gear, leaving distinct and deep marks in the rain-soaked ground. Subsequently, the nose gear touched down and collapsed, and the aircraft came to rest supported by the propeller. After a short landing roll, with a rotation of approximately 45° from the landing direction, the aircraft stopped. The pilot shut down all systems and exited the aircraft. The airfield owner arrived and secured the aircraft. The pilot later underwent a breathalyzer test at a police station, which returned a result of 0.00 mg/l.
Investigation Findings
The investigation determined that during landing, the pilot incorrectly reacted to the wind gust, resulting in a hard touchdown. After the first bounce, the pilot likely released the control yoke. The delayed reaction to the bounce caused the final touchdown on the nose gear. This resulted in damage to the nose gear leg, destruction of the propeller, and engine stoppage.
Probable Cause and Contributing Factors
The probable cause identified in the investigation was twofold: (1) an error in piloting technique involving touchdown with an increased descent rate, leading to a double bounce (referred to as "kangaroos"); (2) an error in incorrectly correcting the bounce, resulting in nose gear touchdown. A contributing factor was the pilot's limited experience, with a total flight time of 115 hours, of which approximately 10 hours were on this aircraft type.
Preventive Actions
As a preventive measure, the operator decided that all pilots flying company aircraft would undergo retraining on preventing landing errors and responding to irregularities that may occur during landing.