What happened
On February 15, 2020, a Glasair Aviation LLC Sportsman 2+2, registration LN-WWW, was returning to Reinsvoll Airport (ENRV) following a local flight. The pilot was executing a landing on runway 34 using full flaps at a speed of 65 knots. Although the runway was covered with a thin layer of snow, the pilot noted that friction remained good.
During the approach, the pilot observed that the touchdown point appeared to be further down the runway than desired. While considering an aborted landing, the pilot determined there was sufficient distance to land without braking. However, the aircraft made a heavy impact on the main gear and bounced into the air. In an attempt to manage the second contact, the pilot pulled back on the control stick. This resulted in a second, higher bounce, after which the aircraft's nose pitched forward. The nose gear struck the runway first, causing the nose gear strut to break, the propeller to strike the ground, and structural damage to the fuselage. There were no injuries to the pilot.
The investigation
The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) examined the sequence of events and the pilot's actions during the landing phase. The investigation focused on the pilot's decision-making regarding the touchdown point and the subsequent flight control inputs during the bouncing sequence.
Findings
- The pilot may have been overly preoccupied with the touchdown position, which likely led to a lack of focus on airspeed control and glidepath monitoring.
- An insufficient flare maneuver contributed to the initial hard landing and subsequent bounce.
- The pilot's decision to pull back on the stick during the second bounce was inappropriate; the investigation noted that the recommended technique during a bounce is to "freeze" the controls rather than pulling back further, which can exacerbate the pitch-down tendency after a second bounce.