What happened
On 21 April 2014, a Vans RV-6, registration G-GDRV, was completing a private flight at Gloucestershire Airport. Following a standard approach and landing on Runway 04, the aircraft was in its landing rollout phase when Air Traffic Control (ATC) issued an instruction to the pilot to take the subsequent exit on the right.
As the pilot prepared to acknowledge this instruction, the aircraft began to swing toward the right, eventually departing the paved surface of the runway. The aircraft proceeded to perform a full 360-degree groundloop before eventually coming to a stop back on the runway surface. Following the incident, the pilot taxied the aircraft back to its hangar and performed a normal engine shutdown. The incident resulted in no injuries to the crew or the passenger, though the aircraft sustained damage to the left landing gear leg and the mainwheel spats.
The investigation
The investigation examined the sequence of events leading to the loss of directional control. It was established that the pilot was momentarily distracted by the incoming ATC instruction at the critical moment of the rollout. The investigation also reviewed the pilot's experience, noting that while the commander held a Private Pilot’s Licence with 508 total flying hours, only 8 of those hours had been completed on this specific aircraft type.