Piper PA-34-200T Runway Excursion at Casarrubios Aerodrome (EC-HUY)

Incident Overview and Flight Details On Saturday, 23 February 2013, at 15:45 local time, a Piper PA-34-200T with registration EC-HUY departed Cuatro Vientos Aerodrome in Madrid for a local visual flight. The aircraft was operated privately and was equipped with two Continental LTSIO-360 EB engines. The flight was a one-and-a-half-hour training exercise intended to revalidate the pilot's multi-engine and instrument ratings. The crew consisted of a 48-year-old flight examiner and a 22-year-old pilot, both holding commercial pilot licenses. After departing the traffic pattern at Cuatro Vientos, the aircraft proceeded to Casarrubios Aerodrome in Toledo. Upon arrival, the crew entered the traffic pattern for runway 26 to perform touch-and-go maneuvers. Following one such maneuver, the crew decided to land on runway 08. ## Accident Sequence and Damage Immediately after touchdown, the aircraft began to drift progressively to the left. Despite corrective actions on the flight controls, engines, and brakes by both crew members, the aircraft could not be kept on the runway. It traveled approximately 450 meters on the ground before exiting the left edge of the runway into the strip, where it came to a stop. The aircraft sustained major damage, including the failure of the landing gear, direct impact of the left engine propeller against the ground, and other fuselage damage. Both occupants were uninjured and were able to evacuate the aircraft under their own power. ## Investigation Findings Field inspections revealed that the aircraft touched down before the threshold of runway 08. Skid marks indicated a discontinuous trajectory to the left. The left main landing gear strut was found to have fractured at its anchor points, and the left tire showed severe, elliptical wear patterns. The right main gear remained attached but was severely damaged. The brake system had functioned but showed signs of intensive use. Data from the onboard Garmin GPS 695 unit indicated that the aircraft overshot the runway heading during the final turn and initiated a correction that it did not complete. The calculated ground speed just before touchdown was 84 knots. The crew reported that they were aware of crosswind conditions and had used a sideslip technique to correct for it, though they did not anticipate it would be strong enough to cause a runway excursion. ## Aircraft and Operational Context The aircraft, manufactured in 1974, had a maximum takeoff weight of 1,999 kg. At the time of the accident, it had 3,857 total flight hours, and both engines had 1,162 hours. The last maintenance check was performed on 14 December 2012. The aircraft's weight and balance were within manufacturer limits. The required landing distance for the aircraft, with flaps fully deployed at 40 degrees, was calculated to be approximately 375 meters. The runway at Casarrubios is 600 meters long and 26 meters wide, with an elevation of 2,050 feet. ## Probable Cause The source document does not explicitly state a probable cause in the provided text.