Flight History
The pilot, who had flown less than 12 hours in the preceding year, was undergoing a proficiency check for revalidation of her SEP-rating. The examiner requested a normal landing followed by a full stop. During the final approach, the pilot extended the flaps fully after seeing the aircraft was slightly high and fast. The aircraft floated above the runway and touched down far, between one-third and one-half of the runway length. The pilot announced her intention to go around, but after a brief discussion with the examiner, no action was taken. The examiner observed that the engine RPM was not at idle, took over the controls, closed the throttle, and applied full brakes. The aircraft overran the runway and came to a stop in a harvested field after the examiner intentionally made a 180° left turn to halt the aircraft. A significant shock was felt when crossing a ditch between the safety area and the field. The occupants left the aircraft uninjured.
The examiner stated that the RPM was not at idle during the flare. The pilot initially said she reduced the throttle to idle, but later recalled that the throttle was slightly harder than usual to set to full idle, possibly resulting in insufficient throttle pull.
Aircraft Inspection
Post-accident inspection revealed damage to the transversal torque tube supporting the nose landing gear strut. The nose landing gear leg contacted the underside of the engine cowling, resulting in an abnormal nose-down attitude. One propeller blade was slightly bent forward. The holes on both fuselage sides used to fix the transversal torque tube brackets were ovalized.
Airfield
Aérodrome de Namur (EBNM) is equipped with two grass runways. Runway 06L/24R, normally used for gliding, is 630 meters long. Runway 06R/24L (695 m) was under construction, so 06L was temporarily used for motorized aircraft as well. Both runways have a slight negative slope. The thresholds of runway 06L/24R had been displaced 100 meters to reduce collision risk, but this displacement was disregarded during the construction work provided no glider activity was present. The pilot was aware of this and had permission to land before the threshold. At the time of the accident, the runway surface was hard and dusty, with short, dry grass due to drought.
Meteorological Information
At 11:30 UTC, the weather was CAVOK with a temperature of 35°C. Wind was from 080° at 7 knots, providing a very light right-hand crosswind on runway 06L.
Personnel Information
The pilot, aged 62, held a PPL(A) with SEP rating and had approximately 338 flight hours since 1997, averaging about 10 hours per year. The flight examiner, aged 55, held an ATPL(A) with extensive experience, including 2,400 hours on single-engine aircraft. His last flight in a Grumman AA5 was 13 days before the accident.