What happened
On 25 June 2022, a Piper PA-28-181, registration G-BFSY, was conducting a private flight when it landed on an inactive portion of the runway at Chatteris Airfield. Before making the final approach, the pilot overflew the airfield to evaluate the landing conditions. The pilot intended to land on Runway 24; however, upon touchdown, the aircraft veered left while traveling over rough ground. This resulted in a loss of directional control, causing the aircraft to come to rest in bushes adjacent to the runway. There were no injuries to the pilot or the passenger, though the aircraft sustained damage to the nosewheel spat and the left wing.
The investigation
The investigation established that the pilot had inadvertently landed on a disused segment of Runway 05/23, which sits at the threshold of Runway 24. While the disused section is marked with white crosses to indicate its status from the air, these markers were hidden by overgrown grass.
Regarding pre-flight preparation, the pilot utilized an online flight planning tool. The basic airfield chart used during this planning session failed to indicate the existence of the disused runway section. Although more comprehensive, subscription-based charts within the same tool did include the markings and a warning, these were not displayed during the pilot's specific planning session. Additionally, the visiting pilot information on the local flying club's website featured an outdated airfield plate that did not show the disused area.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was the landing on a disused section of the runway due to a lack of adequate information during flight planning and the obscured nature of visual runway markers.
- Long grass had overgrown the white crosses intended to mark the inactive runway segment, preventing the pilot from identifying the area as disused during the initial overflight or the approach.
- The flight planning software provided insufficient detail regarding the airfield layout for this specific flight.