Incident Description
About half a nautical mile from the runway, the aircraft became low on the approach. When the pilot recognised that the aircraft was too low, they elected to reduce the flap setting by 10° rather than add power. As the aircraft got closer to the runway, it was still lower than the desired approach profile, at which point the pilot elected to add power to gain height. Despite this action, the aircraft remained below the desired approach profile until it made contact with the truck.
Runway and Road Geometry
The threshold of runway 36 was 78 m from Barwon Heads Road. Using the 5 per cent approach recommended by CAAP 92-1, a distance of 78 m results in a height of 3.9 m above the runway elevation. Combining this with the 0.31 m elevation difference results in a clearance of 4.21 m, which is less than the 4.6 m road vehicle height permitted in Victoria. Therefore, a normal approach aiming for the threshold of runway 36 at Barwon Heads can intersect with road vehicles on Barwon Heads Road.