History of the Flight
The aircraft, a Piper PA-28-161 (G-OBFC), departed Bournemouth Airport at 1115 hrs on 15 April 2007 for a flight to Henstridge Airfield, Somerset. The weather was fine at departure, but visibility deteriorated as the aircraft flew inland. The pilot planned to navigate via the town of Sturminster Newton, 4 nm from Henstridge, but had difficulty identifying it in haze. He flew back along his route to Blandford Forum, identified his position, and set course again for Sturminster Newton. At that point, the aircraft was at approximately 2,000 ft agl, and the pilot could just keep the ground in sight.
Henstridge was identified, and the pilot switched radio frequency from Bournemouth Radar to the Henstridge Air/Ground station. He was informed that Runway 25 was in use with a right-hand circuit clear of other traffic. As the aircraft approached from the south at about 2,000 ft agl, the alternator warning light illuminated. It extinguished when the alternator switch was cycled, but the pilot remained concerned about a possible electrical failure in hazy conditions and was keen to land without undue delay.
The pilot flew overhead the airfield before turning right to join downwind, keeping close to the airfield because of poor visibility. This resulted in the aircraft being high on final approach. Despite using 40° of flap and 'S' turns, the aircraft remained high. The wind was light and variable, possibly giving up to 8 kt of tailwind at landing. The aircraft touched down at least one third of the way into the 750 m runway. The pilot commenced heavy braking. By the time he considered rejecting the landing, the aircraft had lost too much speed but was decelerating too slowly to avoid the boundary fence. He steered to the right just before the fence, but the left wing tip struck it. The aircraft yawed rapidly to the left before coming to rest. The left wing tip sustained major damage, and the wing failed at its junction with the fuselage, causing fuel to spill from a ruptured fuel line. The fence was also damaged. Airfield personnel arrived quickly; the pilot and passenger were uninjured and vacated via the main door. There was no fire, but the fire service attended to the fuel spillage.
Contributory Factors
In his report, the pilot attributed the accident to several factors: poor visibility, a non-standard circuit at an unfamiliar airfield, a shorter runway than he was used to, and the distraction of the alternator warning light, which added perceived time pressure. He recognized that these factors did not make an accident inevitable. The final factor, as he stated, was that the unsatisfactory approach and landing was continued beyond the point at which it could safely have been abandoned.
Safety Action
The pilot's flying club commented that the pilot was a fairly regular flyer who remained current on single-engine piston aircraft but was probably less current with operations to relatively short runways. As a result, the club initiated a review of its recurrent training policy for pilots who wished to conduct operations into or out of short runways and airstrips.