Brazilian investigators believe an unqualified passenger was probably at the controls of an Embraer Phenom 100 that overran the runway on landing at Santa Rosa, spun through 180Β° and fell down an embankment. Investigation authority CENIPA has newly released its conclusions on the 14 December 2021 accident.
The light executive jet was operating from Porto Alegre to Santa Rosa in southern Brazil with a single pilot and three passengers aboard. It conducted its approach to runway 07, which was wet, with a 4kt tailwind component. Calculations indicate that combination required a landing distance of 1,177m β just inside the 1,200m available, leaving almost no margin for an imprecise touchdown.
The pilot held type ratings for the Phenom 100. But CENIPA says audio evidence shows another person was present in the cockpit, and that it was not possible to identify who was at the controls during the landing. The cockpit-voice recorder captured dialogue during the approach suggesting a passenger in the right-hand seat was likely piloting the aircraft: the pilot remarked that he had the runway in sight, then asked the passenger whether they wished to proceed to land, and instructed them to increase the descent rate.
βDespite the [pilot's] statement that he was acting as the pilot flying, the possibility that the landing was performed by an unqualified person cannot be ruled out,β the inquiry says, adding that this may have contributed to the occurrence.
The approach profile was low and long. The aircraft descended to 50ft above ground while still 345m (1,130ft) from the threshold, and crossed the threshold at 14ft. Once the main landing gear had touched down, the brakes were initially activated 209m beyond the threshold but β contrary to the pilot handbook β maximum pressure on the pedals was not reached until 849m down the runway.
Investigators found no evidence of a failure in the aircraft's braking systems, and deceleration was consistent with a wet-runway scenario. The runway did not have transverse grooves for drainage, a surface treatment that helps disperse standing water and preserve braking friction.
The decisive action came late. The emergency brake was engaged 920m after the threshold, which disabled the anti-skid system and left the jet, in the inquiry's words, βwithout protection against wheel lock-upβ. βThis decision was contrary to operational procedures,β the report adds. The wheels on both main landing gear locked, and the aircraft skidded, overrunning the end of the runway before spinning and dropping down the embankment.
The findings sit at the intersection of three ordinary factors that rarely bite on their own: a wet, ungrooved runway with a tailwind that consumed nearly the whole available distance; a touchdown and braking sequence that used more of that distance than the handbook allows; and, most consequentially, real uncertainty over who was flying. The Phenom 100 is a very light jet certificated for single-pilot operation, which makes the right-hand seat routinely available to a passenger β and makes the discipline about who may occupy it, and what they may touch, entirely a matter of the pilot in command's judgement.
Sources: FlightGlobal. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By Daniel Okafor.
Comments
Loading commentsβ¦