 |
37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
Landing a christian eagle into the sun in the late afternoon results in striking a runway approach system light when the landing turns out to be just short of the end of the runway.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 553386 |
| Time | |
| Date | 200207 |
| Day | Sun |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801 To 2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | airport : zzz.airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Altitude | agl single value : 5 |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Operator | general aviation : personal |
| Make Model Name | Christen Eagle II |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | descent : approach |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Person 1 | |
| Affiliation | other |
| Function | flight crew : single pilot |
| Qualification | pilot : atp pilot : commercial |
| Experience | flight time last 90 days : 191 flight time total : 14480 flight time type : 151 |
| ASRS Report | 553396 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ground encounters other other anomaly other |
| Independent Detector | other flight crewa |
| Resolutory Action | none taken : detected after the fact |
| Consequence | other |
| Supplementary | |
| Problem Areas | Environmental Factor Flight Crew Human Performance |
| Primary Problem | Flight Crew Human Performance |
Narrative:
My wife and I were landing in the late afternoon. We were landing on runway 30 as the sun was setting in the western sky. Everything throughout the traffic pattern and approach was normal until short final. As I approached runway 30 on short final, the sun was directly off my nose causing the runway to become obscured. Since I was flying a christen eagle that has very limited visibility over the nose during landing, this didn't seem like a particular problem. From previous experience, I was confident I had the field made and reduced power. Several seconds later, I heard and felt that we had struck something. It turns out we landed short of runway 30 and struck part of the approach light system for runway 30. The major factor to this incident was lack of forward visibility due to the sun setting and the design of the christen eagle.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: LNDG A CHRISTIAN EAGLE INTO THE SUN IN THE LATE AFTERNOON RESULTS IN STRIKING A RWY APCH SYS LIGHT WHEN THE LNDG TURNS OUT TO BE JUST SHORT OF THE END OF THE RWY.
Narrative: MY WIFE AND I WERE LNDG IN THE LATE AFTERNOON. WE WERE LNDG ON RWY 30 AS THE SUN WAS SETTING IN THE WESTERN SKY. EVERYTHING THROUGHOUT THE TFC PATTERN AND APCH WAS NORMAL UNTIL SHORT FINAL. AS I APCHED RWY 30 ON SHORT FINAL, THE SUN WAS DIRECTLY OFF MY NOSE CAUSING THE RWY TO BECOME OBSCURED. SINCE I WAS FLYING A CHRISTEN EAGLE THAT HAS VERY LIMITED VISIBILITY OVER THE NOSE DURING LNDG, THIS DIDN'T SEEM LIKE A PARTICULAR PROB. FROM PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE, I WAS CONFIDENT I HAD THE FIELD MADE AND REDUCED PWR. SEVERAL SECONDS LATER, I HEARD AND FELT THAT WE HAD STRUCK SOMETHING. IT TURNS OUT WE LANDED SHORT OF RWY 30 AND STRUCK PART OF THE APCH LIGHT SYS FOR RWY 30. THE MAJOR FACTOR TO THIS INCIDENT WAS LACK OF FORWARD VISIBILITY DUE TO THE SUN SETTING AND THE DESIGN OF THE CHRISTEN EAGLE.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.