History of the Flight
On 18 October 2011 at 1530 UTC, a pilot flying a prototype Europa XS motor glider, registration G-CBHI, was returning to Chilbolton Airfield in Hampshire after conducting spin trials. This was his third flight of the day. As wind strength had increased, the pilot elected to land into wind by approaching at a slight angle across the grass runway. This required a curved approach and short final while avoiding a tall hedge, overhead cables, and supporting poles.
During the pre-landing checks, the pilot's focus on clearing obstacles left him insufficient time to confirm that all checks were completed. The aircraft landed with the landing gear retracted and the airbrakes extended. No injuries were reported, and damage was limited to the propeller blade tip and wheelbay.
Aircraft Description
G-CBHI is a home-built Europa XS, manufactured in 2001, powered by a single Rotax 912 ULS piston engine. At the time of the accident, it was fitted with a 47.25 ft glider wing with trailing edge airbrakes and was operating on a Permit Flight Release Certificate issued by the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) for spin testing.
In the standard Europa XS, flaps and landing gear are operated by a single lever on the centre console. Moving this lever rearward extends both flaps and landing gear. At normal approach speeds with flaps retracted, the aircraft adopts a high-nose attitude. Extending flaps and landing gear results in a noticeable nose-down attitude, which alerted pilots to gear extension. Consequently, no landing gear position indicator or warning horn was fitted.
In the motor glider variant, the glider wing is equipped with airbrakes. On G-CBHI, the airbrake lever was mounted next to the landing gear lever, both operating in the same sense (rearward to extend). With gear and airbrakes extended, there was negligible change in aircraft attitude, so the pilot could not tell from attitude alone whether the gear was down. This differed significantly from the pilot's experience on the standard, short-wing variant, where pitch change was pronounced.
Comment
The pilot held a Commercial Pilot's Licence and had 11,311 hours total flying experience, with 80 hours on type. The accident highlighted ergonomic factors: the positioning of the airbrake and landing gear levers, operating in the same sense, may have contributed. The LAA advised they would review the location of the landing gear and airbrake levers, and the need for a gear position warning system, during the acceptance process before Type Approval.