AAIB investigation to TL 2000UK Sting Carbon S4, G-ZIZY
Nose gear damaged during landing, Dunkeswell Aerodrome, 18 March 2015.
Summary:
The pilot reported that, during the approach to land on Runway 05, the wind was from 050° at about 5 kt. As he started to flare the aircraft for landing, its pitch attitude increased beyond that intended due to a gust of wind. Sensing the aircraft was stalling, the pilot pitched nose-down and applied full throttle. Before he was able to arrest the descent, the aircraft landed heavily nosewheel first. Whilst taxiing from the runway, the pilot had to use differential braking to maintain directional control as the aircraft continued to turn to the right even when full left nose steering was applied. The pilot and passenger were uninjured and vacated the aircraft normally. Upon inspection, the nose gear leg and fuselage attachment were found to be damaged, with the leg canted to the left.
The pilot considered the reason for the accident was that he had allowed the airspeed to decay too much during the initial flare which, in combination with the unexpected gust, reduced the margin for maintaining a safe flying speed.
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