What happened
On August 15, 2015, an Issoire Aviation APM 30, registration F-HFRM, was performing a touch-and-go maneuver at Le Mans-Arnage aerodrome. During the landing roll, the pilot applied full power and began configuring the aircraft for takeoff. During this process, the pilot diverted their attention to the cockpit controls.
Upon looking back at the runway, the pilot noted the aircraft was deviating to the right. An attempt to correct the deviation using left rudder caused the aircraft to swing too far to the left. Subsequent right rudder inputs further destabilized the aircraft, leading to significant rolling motions. The aircraft eventually veered sharply to the right, exiting the paved runway and coming to a stop on the adjacent unpaved grass strip.
The investigation
The investigation examined the pilot's experience, the aircraft's condition, and the environmental factors. The pilot had 250 total flight hours, but only two hours of experience on this specific type, having not flown the aircraft for a year prior to the accident.
Physical evidence at the scene showed damage to the propeller, the left wingtip, and the main landing gear. While the pilot believed the aircraft did not strike the ground with the wingtip, track marks on the runway suggested the left wingtip did indeed make contact with the surface during the rolling oscillations. The damage to the propeller and landing gear was attributed to the transition from the paved surface to the grass strip.
Findings
- The primary cause of the excursion was the pilot's loss of visual monitoring of the runway trajectory while focusing on internal cockpit selectors.
- The pilot's corrective rudder inputs inadvertently amplified the lateral deviations and rolling motions.
- The pilot's limited experience on the Issoire Aviation APM 30 likely contributed to the incident, as the task of verifying aircraft configuration required more time and cognitive resources than the pilot had anticipated during the high-workload phase of the touch-and-go.