What happened
On August 17, 2012, a Cessna 560 (registration PT-FTB) was performing an air taxi flight from Congonhas (SBSP) to Jacarepaguá (SBJR) in Rio de Janeiro. The aircraft was carrying two crew members and one passenger. During the landing on runway 20, the crew applied brakes and thrust reversers, but the aircraft failed to stop within the paved surface. The aircraft exited the runway and came to a halt approximately 200 meters past the end of the runway in a grassy area. There were no injuries to the occupants and no damage to the aircraft.
The investigation
CENIPA investigators determined that the aircraft was within its structural weight and center of gravity limits. Meteorological conditions were favorable for visual flight rules (VMC). According to the manufacturer's performance charts, the required landing distance for the aircraft's weight and environmental conditions was approximately 701 meters. However, under Brazilian air taxi regulations (RBAC 135), the aircraft should have planned for a landing within 60% of the effective runway length to provide a safety margin. For this 900-meter runway, the required landing distance for compliance would have been 1,168 meters.
Witnesses reported that the aircraft appeared to have excessive speed and height during the final approach, touching down near the control tower. This touchdown point left only about 450 meters of runway remaining, which was insufficient for a safe stop given the operational requirements. Although the aircraft's Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) was functional, no voice recordings were available for analysis.
Findings
- Inadequate flight planning, as the crew did not account for the regulatory requirement to land within 60% of the runway length at the destination.
- Unstable approach, characterized by excessive speed and height during the final phase of flight.
- Limited type experience, as the pilots had relatively low flight hours specifically in the C560 model (100 hours for the commander and 30 hours for the co-pilot) compared to their total flight time.
- Inadequate managerial planning, as the flight was scheduled for an aerodrome with a runway length insufficient to meet the safety margins required for air taxi operations of this aircraft type.