2006 Cirrus SR20 hard landing and runway excursion at Lognes

Overview and flight details On Thursday, 27 April 2006, at 15:50, a Cirrus SR20 registered F-HASL operated by a club made a hard landing with bounces and a lateral runway excursion at Aerodrome Lognes (77), runway 08, a paved 700 m by 20 m runway. The flight was a local flight with the pilot and three passengers aboard. ## Meteorological conditions The weather was wind 020° at 16 kt, visibility greater than 10 km, broken cloud at 4,400 ft, temperature 15 °C, and QNH 1022 hPa. ## Pilot experience The pilot was 40 years old and held a PPL(A) from 1983 and a UL from 2002. He had 198 flight hours, including 10 hours 30 minutes on type and 3 hours in the preceding three months, of which 2 hours were on type. He had completed the club’s Cirrus training to be authorized on the aircraft, including five hours of flight: three hours of maneuvering and two hours of avionics familiarization. ## Sequence of events The pilot departed Lognes with friends and work colleagues, and a film was made during the flight. After about twenty minutes, he entered the traffic pattern. The controller reported that the aircraft was operating at a speed higher than normal on short final for runway 08. The pilot said he reduced speed in short final to about 75 kt, the speed recommended in the flight manual. He made the flare with reduced engine power and the elevator trim set slightly nose-down. The aircraft touched down “three points” and bounced. On the second, harder contact, the pilot was surprised and the aircraft bounced again. The controller saw the aircraft rise to the height of the hangars along the runway. A third bounce occurred. During this sequence, the right-seat passenger, who had no aviation experience, asked the pilot to apply power. The pilot refused, saying he was managing the landing. He then increased power and flared. On the fourth and final contact, he applied brakes and judged that he could not stop before the end of the runway. He decided to leave the runway laterally by applying left rudder. The aircraft came to rest on grass about 130 m from threshold 26. ## Damage and contributing factors The propeller, nose gear shock absorber, and wheel fairings were damaged. The Cirrus landing gear has a particular elasticity that accounts for possible use of a rescue parachute; this property contributed to the aircraft becoming airborne again after the first two touchdowns. The pilot, surprised, likely applied a nose-down input during the first bounce, causing the second touchdown with a high vertical speed. He was able to regain his capabilities only after the third bounce. The aircraft’s center of gravity at the time of the event could not be established. ## Follow-up Since the event, and given the aircraft’s particular characteristics, the club requires ten hours of training on the SR20. This includes maneuvering exercises, avionics familiarization on a computer and on the aircraft on the ground, and ends with maneuvering and navigation tests, followed by a check flight about six weeks later.