An instructor and student; both licensed pilots; were practicing landing directly into the sun at an...

Attributes
ACN	929864
Time
Date	201101
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skywagon 185
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Instructor Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 6200 Flight Crew Type 9
Person 2
Function	Trainee Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 14.8 Flight Crew Total 1048 Flight Crew Type 30.5
Events
Anomaly	Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

Narrative:

I was providing flight training to another CFI. The purpose of the flight was to earn his tail wheel endorsement. We had completed 0.8 hours of flight maneuvers and were making our first landing. All pattern work was normal without VASI or PAPI and appeared only slightly low. Approach was stabilized and speed steady at 70 mph indicated airspeed. At approximately 95 ft away from threshold; main wheels contacted a snow bank. Aircraft decelerated rapidly as it plowed main wheels through snow and onto pavement; nosing over; onto propeller and spinner. Aircraft came to rest on runway centerline; just past threshold markings; nose on ground tail 15 ft up in air and right side up. No injuries. Aircraft damage: sudden engine stop due to prop strike with ground; lower cowling; prop and spinner. Wind was 8 KTS aligned with runway (xx) heading. Sky was overcast. Ground was snow covered; runway was clear. We were landing into the sun which was mostly obscured by overcast. Sunset was XA10; one hour and 10 minutes after incident. The entire area was gray and the snow bank was indistinguishable from surrounding area.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Instructor and Student; both licensed pilots; were practicing landing directly into the sun at an airport with a snow bank at the runway's end which the landing gear hit causing the aircraft to land with the propeller contacting the runway.

Narrative: I was providing flight training to another CFI. The purpose of the flight was to earn his tail wheel endorsement. We had completed 0.8 hours of flight maneuvers and were making our first landing. All pattern work was normal without VASI or PAPI and appeared only slightly low. Approach was stabilized and speed steady at 70 MPH indicated airspeed. At approximately 95 FT away from threshold; main wheels contacted a snow bank. Aircraft decelerated rapidly as it plowed main wheels through snow and onto pavement; nosing over; onto propeller and spinner. Aircraft came to rest on runway centerline; just past threshold markings; nose on ground tail 15 FT up in air and right side up. No injuries. Aircraft damage: sudden engine stop due to prop strike with ground; lower cowling; prop and spinner. Wind was 8 KTS aligned with runway (XX) heading. Sky was overcast. Ground was snow covered; runway was clear. We were landing into the sun which was mostly obscured by overcast. Sunset was XA10; one hour and 10 minutes after incident. The entire area was gray and the snow bank was indistinguishable from surrounding area.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

An instructor and student; both licensed pilots; were practicing landing directly into the sun at an airport with a snow bank at the runway's end which the landing gear hit causing the aircraft to land with the propeller contacting the runway.