General Aviation News regularly posts excerpts of accident reports published by the USA’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and recently they mentioned an incident that occurred in Westminister, MD, that involved a Cessna 182 making a long landing on a short runway. According to the excerpt:
The pilot was attempting to land on an 1,840-foot runway. He landed long. The airplane went off the runway and nosed-over. Skid marks measuring 330 feet long were found on the runway and extended 75 feet into the grass and down the ravine where the airplane was found.
Luckily there were no injuries – despite the ravine at the end of the runway.
One way to avoid a repeat of what this particular pilot did would be to follow the advice of Chris Findley, a flight instructor in the Nashville area and the founder of myFlightCoach.com, about flying a proper pattern and managing energy appropriately. Chris had noted in a post for the Let’s Go Flying blog that he once had a student who was always high in the pattern, didn’t use a consistent flap setting and would try to land 15 knots over the recommended approach speed. After making a few trips around and a review of the recommended speeds, Chris got his student to make much better landings that would not use up most of the runway – especially critical if his student will be doing any landings on a short runway.
Wow! Just reading the story tells me that I know nothing about flying!