Mainair Blade, G-CBXV, 9 May 2012
Mainair Blade, G-CBXV
Summary:
The owner pilot arrived at the airfield and assembled his aircraft, intending to fly in the local circuit. He carried out a pre-flight inspection in accordance with the Mainair manual before starting the engine and taxiing to the apron, where he performed the pre-takeoff checks. He took off on Runway 15 into a light south-easterly wind and the aircraft climbed and performed normally.
The pilot “cut the power” to descend through base leg and finals at 50 mph. However, it did not appear to him that the aircraft was descending sufficiently rapidly so he went around. The second approach was also abandoned because the pilot felt he was too high and, on the third, he reduced power earlier and approached much lower such that he judged he would need to apply power to avoid undershooting. As he did so the main wheels struck a grass bank prior to the runway threshold, and the aircraft impacted a ploughed field to the northeast of the runway. The aircraft was severely damaged but the pilot was uninjured. He assessed the cause of the accident as misjudgement on approach to the runway.
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