Introduction
On 21 July 2013, a Piper PA-28-140, registration EC-CCM, operated by Club de Vuelo TAS, was involved in an incident at Cuatro Vientos Airport, Madrid. The aircraft sustained substantial damage; the two occupants were uninjured.
Flight History
The aircraft departed from runway 10 for a local two-hour flight with an instructor and a pilot on board. The purpose was a checkout flight for the pilot on this aircraft type. They requested and performed four touch-and-go landings. Air traffic control then asked them to adjust for a departure, so they extended the downwind leg to allow another aircraft to take off, resulting in a longer circuit and a long final approach.
Accident Sequence
The aircraft contacted the ground 70 meters before the runway threshold. Upon reaching the paved area at the runway edge, the nose wheel separated. The left wing root struck an approach light beacon. The aircraft then slid along the runway supported on its nose, coming to a stop 210 meters from the threshold.
Damage
The aircraft suffered substantial damage: the nose wheel strut was broken; the left wing root and left side of the fuselage were deformed; both propeller blades were deformed; and the lower fuselage was scraped. The runway surface had superficial scrapes, and an approach light beacon 50 meters from the threshold was broken.
Personnel
The instructor, aged 28, held a valid CPL(A) license with multi-engine, instrument, single-engine, and instructor ratings. He had 446 total flight hours, of which 248.1 were on the PA-28, and 208.4 hours as an instructor. The pilot at the controls, aged 49, held a PPL(A) license and was performing his first flight with this instructor as part of a familiarization for checkout on the PA-28.
Probable Cause
The investigation determined that the incident was caused by an inadequate piloting technique: the pilot attempted to reach the runway by raising the nose without applying more power, leading to the onset of a stall.