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| Date: | Sunday 28 August 2022 |
| Time: | 12:30 |
| Type: |  Tecnam P92 Eaglet |
| Owner/operator: | Hauraki Aero Club |
| Registration: | ZK-NSL |
| MSN: | 1128 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Thames Airfield, Waikato -
 New Zealand
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Thames Airport (TMZ/NZTH) |
| Thames Airport (TMZ/NZTH) | |
| Investigating agency: | CAA NZ |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
An aircraft struck power lines across the road from Thames aerodrome while using grass runway 23. The pilot was conducting a local flight and three 'currency' landings. Grass runway 32/14 was closed due to recent heavy rain causing soft ground and the pil ot believed that the ground at 05 end of grass runway 23/05 was also very soft. He therefore decided to practice the short field take-off and landing technique on first half of grass runway 23. On the first circuit he flew a low final approach path to conduct a short field landing 'touch and go'. The flight then vacated the circuit for a local scenic flight. On returning to Thames the pilot decided to use the same technique and fly two more circuits. The pilot did not realise how low he was on his second approach until he saw the power lines in front of him, by which time it was too late to avoid them. The aircraft struck the power lines and dropped on to the road berm. He received minor injuries and exited the aircraft immediately. It's noted that runway 23 has a 100m displaced threshold because of the power lines approximately 100m east of the runway. The pilot has identified and acknowledged the causal factors regarding this accident (too low) and the local authorities have since placed reflectors on the power lines to make them more readily visible. RAANZ describe the short field technique in their 'Flight Instructor Guide' on their website. It states; '… during this exercise the aeroplane sinks down the same or steeper approach path at progressively decreasing speeds. Only the attitude and airspeed are different. The approach profile should never be flat and low. The importance of selecting an attitude for the required speed, particularly the VTT, and trimming the aeroplane to maintain that attitude, cannot be over-emphasised. If the aeroplane is not properly configured by 200 feet AGL, or the landing is not assured for any reason - the student should be taught to go around. Do not allow the student to round off the approach or target threshold speeds to the nearest mark on the airspeed indicator. A full stop landing should always be made when flying this exercise'. The CAA would like to remind pilots that displaced thresholds are designed to provide increased safety for pilots with consideration to any local hazards on final approach. The associated aerodrome 'Operational Data-Landing distances' as published in the AIP, are based on an aircraft crossing any threshold at a height of 50 feet agl. In this case the published landing distance for grass 23 was 607 meters.
Sources:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/08/28/light-plane-crashes-after-clipping-powerlines-near-thames-airfield/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/129708558/pilots-lucky-escape-after-plane-crashes-at-thames-airfield
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/473663/pilot-survives-light-plane-crash-after-clipping-power-lines-near-thames
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AJj7QP2hKts/YJHh4CqtZsI/AAAAAAAACwk/j60RLvLNNmUyqYHxRzNkshIdQCTppxEtQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/ZK-NSL%2BP92%2B1128.jpg (photo)
History of this aircraft
Ex ZK-NSR
Images:
Thames airfield, 8 March 2022
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Aug-2022 05:41 | Geno | Added |
| 28-Aug-2022 07:19 | flyernzl | Updated [Registration, Cn, Operator, Source, Photo, ] |
| 28-Aug-2022 07:25 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 16-Nov-2022 04:42 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location, ] |
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