Pilot Debrief

PILATUS AIRCRAFT LTD PC-12/47 near Bridgeport, CT — 2009-06-12

Final reportERA09LA339
Sign in to save
Date
2009-06-12
Location
Bridgeport, CT, USA
Airport
BDR
Aircraft
PILATUS AIRCRAFT LTD PC-12/47
Registration
N877AF
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Landing

Probable cause

The flight crew's misjudgment of speed and distance, which resulted in an overrun of the wet runway.

NTSB narrative

The pilots conducted the VOR 24 approach "to minimums," and when they were not able to visually obtain the runway, they conducted a missed approach. The pilots then received "vectors to final" for the ILS runway 6 approach, and visually acquired the runway lights at the decision altitude of 307 feet. They continued the landing, extending the landing gear and selecting the flaps to 30 degrees. The airplane touched down with less than 1,000 feet of runway remaining, and the pilots applied maximum reverse thrust and "more than average braking." The airplane began to hydroplane on the wet runway, and impacted a blast fence about 350 feet off the departure end of the runway. Both pilots reported they did not perform a landing distance calculation prior to landing and knew they were "landing long." They also reported no mechanical deficiencies with the airplane or engine. Examination of the engine revealed signatures of full power with the propeller in full reverse mode, at the time of impact. The airplane manufacturer recommended a landing configuration using 40 degrees of flaps. In a 40-degree flap configuration, with reverse thrust, the required landing distance for the airplane was 2,013 feet. In a configuration of 30 degrees of flaps, and no reverse thrust, the airplane required 2,933 feet of landing distance. The Safety Board issued recommendations regarding removal of the blast fence after two previous accidents, beginning 15 years prior to this accident.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Controlled flight into terrain
First missed decision gate
Pilots did not perform landing distance calculations prior to landing.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Video
  • Photos
  • 24 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents24

Related mishaps