Incident Overview

Date: Saturday 14 June 1986
Aircraft Type: PADC/Pilatus Britten-Norman BN-2A-26 Islander
Owner/operator: Air Furness
Registration Number: G-BMDT
Location: Barrow-In-Furness-Walney Island Airport (BWF) – ÿ United Kingdom
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Component Affected: Aircraft StructureAircraft Structure
Investigating Agency: AIBAIB
Category: Accident
An aircraft, a [Aircraft Type] aircraft, experienced a hard landing at Walney Island due to a sudden descent over stratus clouds, resulting in a significant impact on the airfield centerline. The pilot initiated a controlled descent, but lost altitude and subsequently landed off the runway. The pilot?s actions were hampered by obscured visibility and wind conditions.An aircraft, a [Aircraft Type] aircraft, experienced a hard landing at Walney Island due to a sudden descent over stratus clouds, resulting in a significant impact on the airfield centerline. The pilot initiated a controlled descent, but lost altitude and subsequently landed off the runway. The pilot?s actions were hampered by obscured visibility and wind conditions.

Description

The aircraft took off from Glasgow at 03:17 hrs to fly to Barrow-in-Furness, U.K. When 12 miles north of his destination, the pilot began a slow descent over a layer of stratus cloud. On reaching Walney Island, he was still above cloud so, using positional advice from radar, he turned out to sea to continue his descent. He turned back to the airfield, still in cloud at 1500 feet and he advised Manchester Control that he was overhead the airfield. Air traffic control at Walney Island was not manned at the time. Witnesses close to the airfield reported that the wind was calm and visibility was reduced by patchy, low-lying, sea fog. The aircraft struck the ground on the centreline but some 30 metres short of the beginning of runway 06 in a steep nose-down, left wing low attitude, and came to rest within 10 metres of the initial impact. The aircraft pivoted to the right about the nose and starboard wingtip and bounced laterally to the right of the centreline before coming to rest with its tail toward the runway. The accident occurred approximately 35 minutes after sunrise, and the approach to runway 06 would have been towards the rising sun. Touchdown elevation on runway 06 at Walney Island is 47 feet and the undershoot area slopes up from the sea. Examination of the wreckage revealed no pre-existing defects on the aircraft that could have had any bearing on the accident. No Annex 13 Probable Cause statement was issued in the AAIB report.

Primary Cause

Sudden descent over stratus clouds and loss of altitude.Sudden descent over stratus clouds and loss of altitude.

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