Incident Overview
On 7 June 1997 at 1350 hours, Flight ROT 335, a BAC 111 arriving from Bucharest, experienced a runway excursion during landing on runway 26 at Stockholm/Arlanda Airport. The aircraft departed the paved surface onto the adjacent grass area at a speed of approximately 60 knots. The passengers disembarked through normal exits, and the airport rescue service arrived promptly but no action was required.
Sequence of Events
The pilots conducted the approach under visual flight rules (VFR) after establishing visual contact with the airfield. The commander, serving as pilot flying (PF), reported a normal approach with occasional turbulence and wind gusts from the south. The air traffic controller in the tower advised wind conditions of 160 degrees at 13 knots when the aircraft was eight nautical miles from the runway. Initially, the aircraft was somewhat above the glide slope but regained the correct path by the threshold.
The touchdown occurred in the normal touchdown zone on the left main landing gear with the nose elevated. Shortly thereafter, a strong wind gust caused the right main gear to contact the runway, followed by a heavy impact of the nose gear. The commander responded by using rudder control, reverse thrust, and light braking. He did not observe any unusual handling at that time. As airspeed decreased to the point where rudder steering became ineffective, he engaged nose wheel steering but found it inoperative. Continued light braking could not prevent the aircraft from turning right. Despite applying full braking, the aircraft continued toward the right runway edge and exited onto the grass.
Probable Cause
The accident was caused by the collapse of the nose gear as a result of overload when the aircraft touched down with its nosewheel first after two bounces. A contributing factor was shortcomings in cockpit’s CRM (Cockpit Resource Management) during the flight.