Accident to the Grumman AA-5 registered F-GBDX on 10/04/2023 at Carpentras

Note: The following information is principally based on the pilot’s statement. This information has not been independently validated by
the BEA.

1. History of the flight

The pilot took off from Carpentras aerodrome for a local flight. He carried out a runway circuit followed by a touch-and-go, and then flew an outbound leg of around 10 km before returning to the aerodrome in order to carry out a full-stop landing. After flying over the aerodrome at 2,000 ft, he joined the left-hand downwind leg for paved runway 31.

On the final approach, the aeroplane was at a speed of between 65 and 70 kt, in the landing configuration. The pilot indicated that the wheel touchdown was “flat”, followed by several uncontrolled bounces. At the end of the last bounce, the nose gear broke, the propeller hit the ground and bent.

The aeroplane came to a halt on the left side of the runway, level with holding point B.

Figure 1: excerpt from Carpentras aerodrome VAC

2. Additional information

2.1 Meteorological information

The pilot indicated that the conditions were CAVOK and the wind was calm.

 The Avignon Caumont aerodrome METAR, situated at 20 km, indicated the following conditions at the time of the accident:

• CAVOK;
• wind from 170°, 5 kt.

 2.2 Pilot information

The 75-year-old pilot held an aeroplane private pilot license. The day of the accident, he had logged more than 320 flight hours including around 210 hours as pilot-in-command. The pilot reported that most of his flight hours were on the Robin DR400.

He had been authorised to carry out solo flights on the Grumman AA5 on 20 March 2023, after approximately three dual flight hours and 17 landings. After the accident, he had carried out one single flight as pilot-in-command on the AA5 for a flight time of 20 min.