What happened
On April 14, 1993, a Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee with registration HB-OLN was conducting a local flight from Ascona aerodrome in Ticino. The aircraft, operated by Aerodromo Ascona SA, took off from Runway 17 around 19:20 local time with the pilot and three passengers aboard. After approximately twenty minutes of local flying, the crew returned to Ascona for a landing on Runway 35.
The approach was normal, and the aircraft touched down within the first hundred meters of the paved runway. At this point, the pilot had roughly 550 meters of remaining runway available to bring the aircraft to a stop. The pilot applied the wheel brakes immediately after touchdown but noticed no deceleration. He increased pressure on the pedals and attempted to use them individually, but the aircraft continued to accelerate down the runway.
Despite the passenger in the right seat, who held a pilot license, observing the lack of response to rudder pedal input, the pilot could not stop the Cherokee. The aircraft overran the end of the runway and collided with an adjacent earth embankment. All four occupants exited the cockpit unaided and were uninjured. The aircraft sustained damage to its nose wheel, propeller, and wings.
The investigation
The Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (SUST) conducted a preliminary investigation led by Olivier de Sybourg. Technical inspections confirmed that the brake pads had been replaced during a 50-hour inspection on April 8, 1993, and the braking system was in perfect working order. The aircraft's weight and balance were within limits, and weather conditions at the time were clear with good visibility.
To determine why the brakes failed to engage, investigators performed a ground reconstruction of the pilot's braking action. They discovered that the tips of the pilot's shoes were resting on a transverse tube located just above the rudder pedals. This physical obstruction prevented the pedals from being depressed fully. The pilot believed he was applying full brake pressure because the resistance of the tube gave him false feedback, but the brakes were not actually engaging.
Findings
The investigation identified several contributing factors to the accident:
- Incorrect foot placement: The primary cause was the pilot's feet resting on a transverse bar above the rudder pedals. This position physically blocked full depression of the brake pedals.
- Control configuration differences: The pilot had received his initial training on a Piper Tomahawk PA-38, which features a rudder control system without such obstructing bars. He had not been adequately briefed on this specific design difference when transitioning to the Cherokee PA-28.
- Lack of right-hand brakes: The aircraft was not equipped with brake controls in the right seat, preventing the passenger from assisting with braking.
- Missed opportunity for handbrake: Investigators noted that the use of the parking brake (handbrake) could have stopped the aircraft in time.
Safety action
The report highlights the critical importance of type-specific familiarization. The pilot's failure to recognize the obstruction was linked to his training background on a different Piper model. No formal safety recommendations were issued in this specific final report, but the findings underscore the need for pilots transitioning between aircraft types with different control geometries to be aware of potential physical obstructions to pedal movement.