History of Flight
The pilot planned to depart at around 0900 hrs from his home strip, located 20 miles west of the south west corner of Loch Neagh in Northern Ireland. Departure was delayed until after some fog had cleared, and he took off at around 1230 hrs. He reported good visibility and no fog in the Belfast area en route to Newtownards, which is east of Belfast. He departed Newtownards at 1430 hrs for his return leg. As he flew towards his home strip, he noticed fog that obscured the ground and reported that he could see only the top 10 ft or so of the large chimney at Cookstown protruding above the fog. This chimney is part of a cement factory and is approximately 300 ft high. The pilot, conscious of his level of experience and VFR only rating, elected to turn through 180°, knowing that he had not encountered fog en route. He was aware of a private airfield near Draperstown that was likely to be free from fog and, having subsequently visually checked the absence of fog for his approach, he decided to land there.
Landing
There were sheep grazing at the far end of the strip at Draperstown, which effectively reduced the available field length by about a third. After touchdown, when the pilot applied the brakes, the nose wheel dug into an area of soft ground, causing the nose gear leg to bend and minor damage to the firewall and cockpit floor. Neither the pilot nor the passenger sustained any injuries.
Meteorological Conditions
The pilot later learned that the fog had only cleared for about an hour at his home strip, which allowed him to depart but precluded his landing later that day. The Met Office provided an aftercast for the area, stating: ‘Meteorological surface visibility: 15 – 20 kilometres but 100 metres in local fog patches. (Air to ground visibility not known)’, ‘Cloud: Nil below 10000 FT’ and ‘Weather: Generally nil but with a risk of localised fog patches having persisted in sheltered valleys’.