History of the Flight
On 27 December 2004, a Piper PA-28-181 Cherokee Archer II (registration G-BPAY) operated a private flight from Wellsbourne Airfield to Leicester Airport. The pilot, a 60-year-old with 165 total flying hours (10 on type), expected to land on Runway 28, which had been in use at departure. However, the duty runway had been changed to Runway 22, which is 490 metres long by 30 metres wide, compared to Runway 28's 940 metres by 30 metres.
The pilot joined the overhead for a left-hand circuit. On the downwind leg, he lowered one stage of flap, and a second stage on base leg. The surface wind was from 220° at 5 to 10 kt, visibility 15 km, with scattered cloud at 3,000 feet. At about half a mile from the runway threshold, the pilot realised he was too low and added power, which increased his approach speed from 65 kt to 75 kt.
The aircraft touched down near the threshold. Upon applying wheel brakes, the pilot felt the tyres skidding on a slippery surface. He released and reapplied the brakes several times to improve braking. The aircraft overran the end of the runway into a ploughed field, causing the landing gear to collapse and the propeller to strike the ground, stopping the engine.
The pilot carried out emergency drills, and he and his passenger vacated normally. Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting attended promptly.
Conclusion
The pilot had used only two of the three available stages of flap, and the aircraft's speed was abnormally fast on touchdown. He believed the main reason for the accident was his mental picture of landing on Runway 28, as he had not used any other runway at Leicester for over a year. Runway 22 is 450 metres shorter than Runway 28, and the pilot considered that the accident might have been avoided if he had varied his experience by using other runways.
Remarks
This aircraft had previously overrun the available length of Leicester's Runway 22 on 23 July 2001, at the conclusion of an abnormally fast approach, having touched down half way along the runway.