Piper PA-28-161 Runway Excursion at Murcia/San Javier (EC-IBG)

Incident Overview and Aircraft Details On 27 July 2002, a Piper PA-28-161 with registration EC-IBG was involved in a runway excursion at Murcia/San Javier Airport. The aircraft, manufactured in 1988 and powered by a single Lycoming O-320-D3G engine, was operating under general aviation instruction. The pilot in command was a student pilot with 31 total flight hours. ## Operational Sequence The aircraft departed Valencia Airport around 16:30 local time for an instructional flight to Murcia/San Javier. Upon arrival, the student pilot initiated an approach to runway 05. Just before establishing contact with the runway, a lateral gust of wind pushed the aircraft to the left, causing the pilot to lose control. The aircraft departed the runway and continued rolling across the strip, where the left wing struck a distance indication sign used exclusively by military aircraft before coming to a stop. ## Damage and Injuries The impact resulted in minor damage, specifically deformations to the left wing. The student pilot was uninjured. ## Meteorological Conditions and Analysis METAR reports from Murcia/San Javier around the time of the incident indicated low wind speeds of 6 to 7 knots. The 18:00 local time report, closest to the incident, showed a wind from 090 degrees at 7 knots without noted variability. Vector analysis of this wind relative to the runway yielded a headwind component of 5.36 knots and a crosswind component of 4.5 knots. Investigators concluded that the deviation was unlikely to be caused by such low-intensity winds, making a gust a probable factor. ## Contributing Factors Tire marks on the runway pavement indicated that the student pilot applied maximum brakes immediately upon touchdown to minimize kinetic energy but did not attempt to correct the aircraft's deviation. The investigation concluded that the incident was caused by the student pilot's lack of experience, which prevented them from adequately managing the situation.