What happened
On October 1, 2014, at approximately 14:30 UTC, a Cirrus SR22, registration PR-PAS, was performing a private flight from Salvador International Airport (SBSV) to Boquira Aerodrome (SNBO) in Bahia, Brazil. The aircraft was transporting three passengers under VFR conditions.
Upon arriving at the destination, the pilot performed a traffic pattern to evaluate the runway infrastructure. Due to the presence of bushes at the threshold of runway 03, the pilot decided to execute a landing approximately 100 meters beyond the threshold. During the landing rollout, the left wingtip collided with bushes located on the side of the runway. This impact caused the pilot to lose control of the aircraft, which veered to the left before abruptly spinning to the right and coming to a stop perpendicular to the runway. All four occupants were unharmed, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage.
The investigation
The investigation conducted by CENIPA revealed that while the pilot was properly qualified and the aircraft was airworthy, the aerodrome's infrastructure presented significant hazards. Although the runway was officially approved, the presence of vegetation had reduced the effective width of the runway from 25 meters to approximately 8 meters in certain sections. Given that the wingspan of the Cirrus SR22 is 11.68 meters, the narrowed path was insufficient for safe passage.
Furthermore, the investigation noted a lack of essential safety equipment at the aerodrome, such as a windsock, and identified vulnerabilities in the airfield's perimeter control, which allowed unauthorized access by people and animals. The investigation also determined that the pilot's assessment of the runway during the traffic pattern was inadequate and that the flight planning process failed to identify the current state of the airfield's infrastructure.