History of the Flight
The pilot, the sole occupant, was conducting a short post-maintenance check flight and planned to return to his home base at Shoreham. He had departed from Runway 02 but, upon return, the active runway had changed to Runway 30. During the approach, the pilot noticed another aircraft on the runway that was slower to vacate than expected, which he later considered may have been a distraction. The aircraft descended low on final approach and struck a fence in the undershoot of Runway 30. The impact damaged the landing gear, which subsequently collapsed during the landing roll.
The pilot, who held a Private Pilot's Licence and had 876 hours of flying experience (435 on type), commented that although he was familiar with North Weald, he had never used Runway 30 before and was unaware of the fence in the undershoot. He did not see the fence during his approach and considered that limited visibility over the aircraft's nose and reduced visual contrast caused by sunlight at the time may have been factors.
Airfield Layout
Runway 30 is an unlicensed paved runway formed from part of a larger disused runway. Another paved runway, orientated 02/20, intersects the disused part of Runway 30 adjacent to the displaced threshold of the used part and should not be used for landing. A 150 cm high fence parallels Runway 02 and lies in the undershoot of Runway 30, approximately 138 m before the Runway 30 displaced threshold.
Safety Action
The airfield operator has repainted the lead-in lines to the displaced threshold on Runway 30 and is planning to repaint the runway closed X markings on the disused paved surface outside the airfield boundary.