What happened
On 8 August 1999, a Shorts 360-100, registration G-BVMX, was performing a scheduled public transport flight from Jersey to Guernsey. The flight, carrying 31 passengers and 3 crew, touched down on Runway 09 under favorable weather conditions.
Following a normal touchdown by the first officer, the commander began the landing sequence by adjusting the fuel and propeller controls. During this process, a slight delay occurred between the selection of the power levers for the two engines. While the aircraft initially maintained its centerline, it suddenly experienced a violent swing to the right. Despite the application of full left rudder and differential braking, the aircraft departed the paved surface and struck the Precision Approach Path Indicators (PAPI) located south of the runway. The aircraft eventually regained control and returned to the runway to taxi to the terminal. There were no fatalities and no injuries among the occupants.
The investigation
Investigators analyzed the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockende Voice Recorder (CVR) to reconstruct the sequence of events. The data confirmed that while the staggered selection of propeller settings caused an initial minor heading change, the aircraft was successfully corrected with left rudder. However, at approximately 75 kt, the aircraft's heading deviated sharply to 119 degrees.
Examination of the runway revealed tyre marks indicating a sharp right turn followed by an immediate left turn. The underside of the aircraft's nose struck and destroyed a PAPI light unit. Post-incident inspections of G-BVMX found substantial damage to the radome support structure and the lower fuselage skin, along with a cut nosewheel tyre. Mechanical inspections of the steering, braking, and rudder systems, as well as engine and propeller functionality, revealed no technical defects.
Findings
- The initial deviation from the centerline was caused by the staggered selection of the propeller controls to the ground fine setting.
- The primary cause of the excursion was likely the inadvertent application of right nosewheel steering via the tiller at a high speed of 75 kt.
- The commander, who had relatively limited experience on this specific aircraft type, likely over-controlled the aircraft by using the nosewheel steering before the aircraft had slowed to a suitable taxi speed.