An emergency go-around at Gold Coast Airport brought a C172R into close proximity with hangars according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report released yesterday.
VH-EWW with a student and instructor on board was on approach to Gold Coast's short runway 35 when ATC requested they "maintain best speed all the way into the crossing runway". Attempting to comply with that resulted in a landing that was too fast and too long, with EWW crossing the threshold at 100 feet and at 90 kt.
At this stage the tower controller considered that crew would go-around and began re-sequencing procedures; however, the crew continued with the landing.
An attempt to brake on touch-down was ineffective because of the speed and the aircraft skidded onto the grass as the crew tried to turn right onto taxiway Golf.
The instructor conducted an emergency go-around from the grass beside taxiway Golf, during which the tail of the Cessna struck the ground. With the stall warning sounding, the instructor had to lower the nose and steer towards the lower hangar roof in order to maintain clearance.
After narrowly avoiding the buildings, the crew completed a circuit, landing safely on the longer runway 32.
According to the ATSB, the incident was largely caused by an interpretation of the requirement to maintain best speed and a decision not to go around when it became apparent the approach was not stable.
“The aircraft subsequently passed about 100 ft above the runway threshold at about 25 kt faster than the normal approach speed,” ATSB Director Transport Safety Stuart Macleod said.
“Unable to slow the aircraft down before the runway’s end, the instructor attempted to turn onto taxiway Golf, but the aircraft skidded onto the grass, and the instructor elected to conduct an emergency go-around.”
According to the ATSB report, the term "maintain best speed" was non-standard, but that ATC were permitted to use plain English in situations where a standard phrase was not available. Investigators also determined that in terms of procedures, an instruction to maintain speed did not over-ride an aircraft's optimal approach speed.
“Although not standard phraseology, air traffic controllers may ask pilots to maintain ‘best speed’," Macleod said, "and it is up to the pilot to determine what is best in this context, and more generally advise if an instruction is unclear or cannot be complied with.”
ATSB investigators also found that the tower controller, seeing the problem after landing, offered the crew a less acute left turn onto taxiway Charlie, but the instructor was too occupied with trying to control the aircraft on the ground to acknowledge the offer.
The full report is on the ATSB website.