Accident Details
On 26 July 2006 at approximately 1350 UTC, a GROB G115 (registration G-BOPT) was involved in an accident during a training flight at Barton Aerodrome, Manchester. The aircraft was powered by a single Lycoming O-235-H2C piston engine and had been manufactured in 1988. The flight was a conversion training session, with an instructor (commander) converting a student pilot onto the GROB G115 type. The commander held an Airline Transport Pilot's Licence and had 22,000 hours of flying experience, with 34 hours on type. The student pilot was in the middle of a flight instructor course and had already obtained a commercial pilot's licence. There were no passengers on board; both crew members were uninjured.
History of the Flight
The training flight had been without incident until the student pilot flew the aircraft back to Barton to continue circuit training. The student pilot flew the approach to Runway 27L. Initially, the approach was high, but the student corrected this error. The aircraft then landed heavily on all three landing gears and bounced. It bounced again, after which it yawed and rolled to the left. The commander took control of the aircraft. During this sequence, the nose landing gear collapsed and the propeller struck the ground. The aircraft finally came to rest to the left of the runway. Both occupants exited the aircraft normally.
Commander's Assessment
The commander assessed that the student pilot had rounded out too high, resulting in the aircraft sinking and the subsequent hard landing and bounce. As a personal comment, the commander expressed concern about the landing technique of some pilots accustomed to flying light aircraft onto long paved runways. He noted that the availability of long paved landing surfaces seemed to encourage higher approach speeds, and pilots would allow this excess speed to dissipate by closing the throttle earlier than would normally be expected. This resulted in them adopting a landing technique unsuitable for shorter grass runways, such as those in use at Barton.
Damage
The accident resulted in damage to the nose landing gear, which collapsed, and damage to the propeller.