What happened
On 4 June 2008, a student pilot was conducting a solo training flight in a Cessna F150L, registration G-BAEU, at Full Sutton Airfield in Yorkshire. The flight was part of a training session involving circuits on Runway 22. During the flare phase of a touch-and-go maneuver, the pilot observed a glider approaching from the opposite direction on Runway 04.
To prevent a mid-air collision, the pilot executed an immediate maneuver to bring the aircraft to the ground as quickly as possible. This involved pushing the control column forward to force the aircraft onto its nosewheel. Following the initial touchdown and two subsequent bounces, the nosewheel collapsed. The impact caused the propeller to bend and resulted in the shock-loading of the engine. The pilot was uninjured during the event.
The investigation
The AAIB investigation examined the actions of both the student pilot and the glider pilot. The investigation established that the student pilot had not observed any other traffic in the circuit prior to the encounter. The glider pilot, who was performing an unscheduled landing due to a high rate of descent, had not tuned the airfield's mandatory radio frequency because his attention was focused on managing the descent.
At the time of the incident, the glider pilot was landing in the opposite direction on Runway 04. The two aircraft came to a stop approximately 200 meters apart. The glider pilot noted that he had landed on the eastern edge of the runway to maintain clearance for potential following traffic.