Course of Occurrence
On 6 September 2022, at about 06:45 local time, the crew of a Tecnam P2008-JC aircraft, registration SP-DME, departed from EPLL aerodrome for a training flight. The exercise included VFR flight with navigation by visual orientation, compass, and navigation calculations, and landing on a short strip. The crew flew to EPTM and then to EPPT aerodrome. Over the ECHO waypoint of EPPT, the Tecnam student pilot reported intention to land. The flight coordinator provided landing conditions and instructed the crew to report before entering the right traffic pattern for Runway 03, with a traffic pattern altitude of 1700 ft AMSL. The Tecnam crew acknowledged. Communication was initially in English, but then the flight coordinator switched to Polish, and the student complied. The instructor did not react to the language change despite not speaking Polish.
At about 08:43, the crew of a Cessna 172M aircraft, registration SP-FTC, took off from EPPT for a familiarization flight along the right traffic circuit for Runway 03. Meanwhile, the Tecnam student had difficulty locating the EPPT aerodrome. The instructor decided to allow the student to continue at approximately 2,000 ft AMSL and intended to inform him of the aircraft position only when over the aerodrome. The instructor did not inform the flight coordinator or other air traffic participants of these intentions.
At about 08:45, the Tecnam crew, while in the EPPT area, made a right turn and proceeded along the aerodrome traffic circuit in the direction opposite to that in force. At the traffic pattern altitude, the Tecnam instructor observed the Cessna passing about 100–200 ft above the Tecnam. After this airprox, the Tecnam crew joined the traffic pattern for Runway 03 in a downwind position behind the Cessna, executed a low pass followed by a touch-and-go, and returned to EPLL via the NOVEMBER waypoint.
Cause
The cause of the occurrence was the Tecnam's non-standard entry into the traffic pattern area, approximately 300 ft above the prescribed altitude.
Contributing Factors
1. The student's failure to recognize the airfield at the required distance. 2. Failure to inform other users of EPPT of a possible non-standard entry into the aerodrome area. 3. The instructor's failure to react to the switch in the language of radio communication.
Preventive Measures
The aircraft operator accepted a preventive measure to include in their standard operating procedures a provision that during training flights with instructors who do not speak Polish, students must maintain radio communications in English to ensure the instructor can supervise the correctness of the communication.