What happened
On June 1, 2014, a Cessna 172 operated by Aero Club Milano was performing a private VFR flight arriving from Milan-Bresso. While approaching runway 08L at Locarno Aerodrome (LSZL), air traffic control instructed the pilot to perform a go-around for safety reasons.
During the subsequent second approach to the asphalt runway 08L, the aircraft arrived with excessive speed. This resulted in a hard nose landing, which caused damage to the nose tire and led the propeller to strike the ground. Following this impact, the pilot executed another go-around and successfully completed a third landing attempt without further incident.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the sequence of events during the two landing attempts at Locarno. The examination established that the aircraft's approach speed during the second attempt was too high, directly leading to the impact. The incident resulted in one minor injury to a passenger and no injuries to third parties.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was the excessive approach speed during the second landing attempt.
- The impact with the runway surface caused structural damage to the nose wheel tire and the propeller.
- The aircraft was being operated under private VFR flight rules.