Zenair CH 701UL, G-CDGR, 11 March 2009

Zenair CH 701UL, G-CDGR

Summary:

After a normal touchdown the aicraft veered to the left. The pilot applied his right foot to the pedals but this had no effect and the rate of turn to the left increased, causing the aircraft to leave the grass runway surface and enter an adjacent corn field. The left main wheel lifted into the air due to the high rate of turn and the right wing leading edge hit the ground. Then the propeller struck the ground and the engine stopped simultaneously. The pilot reported that he was uncertain of the cause of the accident but offered two possible causes. He thought that the nosewheel fork might have bent on landing due to an earlier heavy landing on the nosewheel. Alternatively, he thought it was possible that he might have inadvertently applied left pedal after touchdown instead of right pedal as the pilot’s right pedal is mounted very closely to the co-pilot’s left pedal without a central divider.

Download report:

Zenair-CH-701UL,-G-CDGR-08-09.pdf (292.64 kb)

Published 10 December 2014