Samba XLA, EI-JIM, 18 August 2012
Samba XLA, EI-JIM
Summary:
The aircraft, which was visiting from Ireland, flew from Duxford to Chatteris with the pilot and a passenger on board. The weather was fine, with a surface wind at Chatteris estimated at 230° at 4 kt. When the pilot contacted the airfield by telephone beforehand, he was informed that it was a busy parachuting airfield, given a frequency to call on arrival, and advised to consult a flight guide for airfield information.
On arrival at Chatteris, the pilot made radio contact with a parachute jump aircraft and delayed his join until being informed that all parachutists had landed. The pilot positioned for landing on the grass Runway 23, which was listed in a commercial flight guide as being 11 m wide. Just before touchdown, the aircraft’s right wing contacted vegetation to the right of the runway, causing it to yaw through 180° and depart the runway about 200 m from the threshold. In his report, the pilot stated that the wing had struck vegetation over 1 m high, and that the runway strip was in fact only mowed to a width of about 6 m. The aircraft has a low-wing configuration of 10 m span.
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