Incident to the Piper PA28 registered F-GETH on 05/07/2024 at Berre-La Fare

This is a courtesy translation by the BEA of the Final Report on the Safety Investigation. As accurate as the translation may be, the original text in French is the work of reference.

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 was carrying out a cross-country flight from Angoulême - Brie - Champniers to Berre - La Fare. The meteorological conditions were CAVOK. One hour after taking off, the pilot noticed an autopilot failure and switched to manual mode, after several attempts to re-engage the autopilot. He did not notice the alternator indicator light show any voltage drop. The pilot then contacted the flight information services in Limoges, Montpellier and Marseille. In radio contact with the latter[1], the pilot descended from a cruising altitude of 6,500 ft to 2,800 ft to reach point W of Avignon-Caumont aerodrome[2] and follow a VFR transit to destination.

Two minutes later, due to an IFR departure, the controller asked the pilot to take a more northerly route. The pilot read this back, complied and left the frequency before contacting the Avignon-Provence control tower to continue the transit. The transmission of the pilot's message was “scrambled”, and he only heard a few “snippets” of the controller's reply. The controller asked him to select IDENT on the transponder and confirmed that his position was being received.

The pilot rapidly lost all radio contact and the aeroplane experienced a total electrical failure. On exiting the Avignon-Provence CTR, the pilot decided to continue the initially announced transit as he considered that the destination aerodrome was one he knew perfectly well, and that he was displayed on the radar of the Avignon-Provence control tower.

The pilot followed the VFR transit, checking his position on his tablet, while offsetting his flight path and increasing his altitude to reduce the risk of conflict with another aircraft following strictly the same route in the opposite direction.

Having passed the last transit point, the pilot descended to an altitude of 1,300 ft to carry out an overhead reconnaissance of Berre - La Fare aerodrome. The pilot decided to land on runway 16, descended to an altitude of 900 ft[3] and indicated that he was alone in the aerodrome circuit.

The pilot controlled the extension of the landing gear and, due to the total electrical failure, did not notice any visual gear extension warning, nor any aural gear up warning. He also stated that he did not hear the clack of the landing gear extending because he was talking to the passengers at the time to reassure them. He indicated that he had forgotten that the landing gear was extended electrically on this aircraft and remembered not extending the landing gear manually.

At the beginning of the downwind leg, the pilot extended the flaps to the first detent position and called out the landing checklist. In particular, he called out “gear down” as he touched the gear extension control. He extended the flaps to the second detent on the base leg, and then to the last detent on the final leg. He was aligned on the runway axis, with an established headwind of 10 to 15 kt, without realizing that the landing gear was still retracted. The aeroplane descended at an airspeed of 90 kt, then 80 kt on short final.

The pilot flared and on coming into contact with the grass runway, realised that the landing gear was not down. The aeroplane made contact with the ground, wings level, at the intersection of the two runways, and smoothly slid along the runway centreline for around 100 m before pivoting to the right. The aeroplane came to a halt midway along the runway.

2. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
2.1 Pilot information
The 59-year-old pilot and owner of the aeroplane held a PPL(A) obtained in July 2022 along with a SEP land rating. He also held a class 2 medical certificate with a VNL restriction[4]. On the day of the accident, he had flown a total of roughly 240 hours on the PA 28. In the previous 90 days, he had flown 21 flight hours all of which on type. 

2.2 Aerodrome information
Berre - La Fare aerodrome is a restricted-use aerodrome. It is reserved for aeroplanes based there and an authorisation is required.

The aerodrome has two intersecting grass runways. Runway 16/34 measures 940 m long and 60 m wide. Runway 08/34 measures 1,090 m long and 60 m wide. Runway 16 crosses runway 08 around 300 m from the runway threshold.
 

April 2025

[1] The pilot was in radio contact on frequency 132.300, covering the approach to Marseille and certain sectors of the FIS.

[2] Commonly known as Avignon-Provence.

[3] Altitude of published aerodrome circuit.

[4] Requirement to wear suitable optical correction in flight to correct defective distant vision; implies carrying a pair of spare glasses in the cockpit.