What happened
On December 14, 2005, a Socata TB9, registration I-IAGH, was conducting flight training at Lucca Tassignano Airport. The aircraft was operated by Aero Club “Carlo del Preert” and was being piloted by a student pilot performing a series of touch-and-go maneuvers on runway 10 under the remote supervision of an instructor on the ground.
During the fourth touch-and-go attempt, the aircraft made contact with the runway with its main landing gear. As the nose wheel subsequently touched the pavement, the aircraft experienced a sudden yaw to the right followed by a yaw to the left. This loss of directional control caused the aircraft to veer off the runway and come to a stop in a plowed field approximately 50 meters from the runway edge.
While the pilot escaped without injury, the aircraft sustained significant damage, including a bent propeller, damage to the engine mount, the firewall, and the nose gear.
The investigation
The ANSV investigation focused on the sequence of the landing roll and the mechanical state of the aircraft. Investigators noted that the inward bending of a single propeller blade indicated that the engine RPM was low and rapidly decreasing at the moment of impact, which is consistent with the landing phase of flight.
Technical inspections of the aircraft's maintenance records and airworthiness status showed no defects that would suggest a mechanical failure. The investigation concluded that the aircraft was in a proper state of airworthiness at the time of the accident.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was the loss of control by the student pilot during the landing roll.
- The deviation from the runway was likely triggered by asymmetric braking at the moment the nose wheel contacted the runway.
- A contributing factor was the pilot's lack of flight experience, as the accident occurred during the student's very first solo flight, having received their student pilot certificate only one month prior.