Piper PA-36-285 Runway Excursion at Vitigudino, Spain (EC-CUX)

Incident Overview On 14 March 2001 at 18:10 local time, a Piper PA-36-285 with registration EC-CUX, powered by a single Lycoming IO-720-D1CD engine, was conducting commercial aerial agricultural work near Vitigudino, in the province of Salamanca, Spain. The aircraft was operating from a temporary runway consisting of a municipal road. ## Sequence of Events The aircraft landed heading northeast on the temporary runway. According to the pilot, shortly after touchdown, control was lost and the aircraft drifted to the right. The right main landing-gear leg entered a drainage ditch running alongside the road and continued rolling along its bottom until it struck a concrete pipe associated with access to nearby properties. The impact broke the right main gear leg and caused a sharp turn to the right. The aircraft crossed the ditch and entered recently ploughed agricultural land. Because the soil was very loose, the left main gear leg became embedded and collapsed. The aircraft then slid on the lower fuselage until it came to rest. ## Injuries and Damage The pilot was the sole occupant and was uninjured. The aircraft sustained major external damage to the main landing gear, propeller, and right wing. No other damage was reported. ## Crew and Aircraft Information The pilot-in-command was 38 years old and held a Spanish commercial pilot licence for aeroplanes, valid until 19 December 2001. Total flight time was about 740 hours, with 400 hours on type. The aircraft had a valid certificate of airworthiness, and its last maintenance inspection had been completed seven days before the event. ## Contributing Factors The investigation identified three contributing factors: the narrow width of the temporary runway, insufficient pilot reaction during the landing roll to a possible deviation, and limited forward visibility from the cockpit. The Piper PA-36 cockpit is positioned near the trailing edge of the wings, with the nose extending more than 3 metres ahead, resulting in a very restricted field of view during takeoff and landing. The main-gear track width was 2.65 metres, while the road runway was about 4.5 metres wide, leaving less than 1 metre between the main wheels and the edge when the aircraft was centred.