Incident Overview

Date: Wednesday 10 March 2021
Aircraft Type: Cessna 208B Grand Caravan
Owner/operator: Mission Aviation Fellowship – MAF
Registration Number: PK-MAD
Location: Angguruk Airstrip – ÿ Indonesia
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Substantial, repaired
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Component Affected: Aircraft Control System (specifically, the pilot’s visual assessment of the runway).Aircraft Control System (specifically, the pilot’s visual assessment of the runway).
Category: Accident
On an unscheduled cargo flight from Wamena Airport to Angguruk Airstrip, Papua, Cessna 208B aircraft PK-MAD experienced a near-miss incident due to visual flight rule (VFR) restrictions. The pilot initiated maneuvers to avoid clouds, resulting in the pilot noticing a difference in grass color on the runway. The pilot incorrectly assumed the brighter grass was cut, leading to a deviation from the planned landing approach. The aircraft touched down slightly off the runway, veering to the left, and stopping approximately 112 meters from the runway threshold. No injuries occurred, and the aircraft sustained minor damage.On an unscheduled cargo flight from Wamena Airport to Angguruk Airstrip, Papua, Cessna 208B aircraft PK-MAD experienced a near-miss incident due to visual flight rule (VFR) restrictions. The pilot initiated maneuvers to avoid clouds, resulting in the pilot noticing a difference in grass color on the runway. The pilot incorrectly assumed the brighter grass was cut, leading to a deviation from the planned landing approach. The aircraft touched down slightly off the runway, veering to the left, and stopping approximately 112 meters from the runway threshold. No injuries occurred, and the aircraft sustained minor damage.

Description

The Cessna 208B aircraft, registered PK-MAD was being operated by Yayasan Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) Indonesia on an unscheduled cargo flight from Wamena Airport (WAVV), Papua to Angguruk Airstrip, Papua. The filed flight plan indicated that the flight would be conducted under the Visual Flight Rule (VFR). At 09:08 LT, in daylight conditions, the aircraft departed from Wamena. The pilot was the only person on board the aircraft and this flight was the second flight of the day for the pilot and the aircraft. Prior to the departure, there was no record or report of aircraft system malfunction. Considering that the aircraft altitude was higher than normal for the landing approach to runway 09 at Angguruk and attempting to avoid clouds, the pilot made several maneuvers over Angguruk. During that maneuver, the pilot noticed that the grass on the runway, about 50 meters from beginning of the runway 09 and the grass about 30 meters before the threshold of runway 09 had brighter color than the other grass. The pilot thought that the brighter color-grass was the grass that had been cut. When on final approach, the pilot noticed that the runway threshold markers were visible. The pilot recalled that the markers did not stand out as usual due to the color. The pilot also recalled that the area about 30 meters before the threshold runway 09 looked usable for landing, as the color was no different with the 50 meters of the beginning runway. The pilot planned to make touchdown in the very beginning of runway 09 as he did not want to use more braking to decelerate the aircraft. The aircraft touched down about 22 meters before the runway threshold, then veered to the left and stopped about 112 meters from the beginning runway 09 on heading 182ø. No one injured in this occurrence and the aircraft was substantially damaged.

Primary Cause

Pilot misjudgment of runway grass color and deviation from planned landing approach.Pilot misjudgment of runway grass color and deviation from planned landing approach.

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