What happened
On 5 July 1999, a Cessna F150G, registration G-OSTY, was performing a private flight from Bournemouth International Airport to Sandown Airport on the Isle of Wight. As the aircraft was completing its approach to the grass Runway 23, the pilot attempted to land the aircraft.
Upon touchdown, the nose of the aircraft dropped abruptly. This sudden, heavy impact resulted in the failure of the nose landing gear, which broke away from the airframe. Following the impact, the aircraft continued a short ground run before coming to a halt in a nose-down position.
The investigation
The investigation was based on the aircraft accident report submitted by the pilot. The examination focused on the sequence of events during the landing phase and the physical damage sustained by the aircraft. The impact was severe enough to cause damage to the engine cowling, the propeller, and the nose landing gear assembly.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was a sharp nose drop during touchdown.
- The resulting hard impact led to the structural failure and separation of the nose landing gear.
- There were no injuries to the pilot or the single passenger on board.