2010 Cessna 188 Accident at Silok Airfield (HC-C3YF)

Incident Overview and Flight Details On August 26, 2010, a Cessna 188 aircraft, identified in the report as Cessna A-188-B, departed from the private Silok airfield for its first flight of the day. The mission was an agricultural spraying operation to a farm located approximately ten minutes' flight from the runway. The aircraft was fueled with 44 gallons of aviation fuel and loaded with 120 gallons of fungicide. Due to prevailing northerly winds, the pilot initiated the takeoff roll from runway 11 under visual flight rules. During the takeoff roll, after covering 225 meters and approaching rotation speed, the pilot observed a mule entering the runway from the right side. To avoid a collision, the pilot executed an evasive maneuver, steering the aircraft to the left over the runway's left margin. The aircraft pivoted on its left main wheel, turning to a heading of 280°. During this maneuver, the right main wheel struck a 50 cm ground elevation, bending the lower part of the right main landing gear. Additionally, the right wingtip contacted the adjacent ground surface. The pilot abandoned the aircraft under his own power and sustained no injuries. He was assisted by company personnel. No fire was observed, and no third-party damage occurred. The aircraft sustained a bent lower right main landing gear and corrugation of the central upper surface of the right wing. The investigation found no flight recorders, which were not required for this type of aircraft. The pilot, a 56-year-old Ecuadorean commercial pilot, held a valid second-class medical certificate requiring corrective lenses. He had 9,932.10 total flight hours. The aircraft's airworthiness certificate was valid. The engine was a Teledyne Continental Motors IO-550-D22, and the propeller was a Hartzell HC-C3YF-1RF. The investigation noted that the company's operations manual lacked specific takeoff abort procedures, runway inspection procedures, and maximum takeoff weight sections for each operating runway. The checklist for the aircraft was not present on board. The investigation concluded that material factors did not contribute to the accident, as the damage occurred during the final phase of the evasive action to avoid the mule, caused by the ground elevations at the runway margins.