AAIB investigation to Reims Cessna FRA150M Aerobat, G-BEKN
Nosewheel leg collapse on landing, Peterborough Sibson Airfield, Cambridgeshire, 7 May 2018.
Summary:
The pilot was returning to Peterborough Sibson Airfield from Fenland Aerodrome where he and his passenger had stopped for a coffee. The approach into Sibson was made with 30 degrees of flap and what the pilot thought was 80 mph but was in fact 80 knots (92 mph). The wind was light and variable. The aircraft touched down hard and bounced back onto the air. On the next bounce the pilot described the aircraft almost “porpoising”. With tall trees beyond the end of the runway fast approaching, the pilot thought it would be safer to continue landing rather than to go around. However, during the third and final bounce, the nosewheel leg broke before the aircraft came to a stop.
The pilot’s assessment of the accident was that most of his previous flying was in Cessna 150s with ASIs marked in mph rather than knots, and that he had misread his approach airspeed.
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