What happened
On 14 October 2007, a Cessna 172, registered ZS-IFW, was involved in a landing accident at Grand Central Aerodrome in Gauteng. The aircraft was being operated for private training purposes by a student pilot. After completing approximately one hour of solo flight within the general flying area, the pilot initiated an approach to runway 35 at an indicated airspeed of 80 knots with the flaps in the retracted position.
Upon touching down, the aircraft experienced a heavy landing that caused it to bounce. In an attempt to stabilize the aircraft, the pilot pushed the control stick forward. This action caused the aircraft to pitch down, leading to a nose-first impact with the runway. The resulting force caused the nose landing gear to collapse, leading to damage to the propeller blades and the lower surface of the aircraft's nose section. There were no injuries to the pilot.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the pilot's control inputs during the landing bounce. It was established that the pilot held a valid microlight aeroplane pilot’s licence in addition to their student pilot certificate. Investigators examined the mechanics of the control inputs and determined that the pilot applied a technique appropriate for weight-shift microlight aircraft rather than a fixed-wing aircraft. In weight-shift aircraft, pushing the control bar forward causes the nose to pitch up, whereas in a fixed-wing aircraft like the Cessna 172, pushing the stick forward causes the nose to pitch down.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was the use of incorrect control techniques during the landing sequence.
- The pilot's experience with weight-shift aircraft led to a counter-productive response to the aircraft's bounce.
- The aircraft's nose landing gear failed upon impact due to the downward pitch induced by the pilot's input.
- The aircraft had undergone a mandatory periodic inspection only two days prior to the accident.