Air transportation safety investigation A19O0028

The occurrence

C-FACJ, a privately registered Cirrus SR20 aircraft, was rented by a commercially licensed pilot for the purpose of building flight time. As the pilot had limited experience on this aircraft type, in addition to no recent flying, the pilot hired an instructor to provide some training. The instructor was a Class 1 instructor, and a Transport Canada accredited Pilot Examiner.

On 12 March 2019 at 1342 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), the aircraft departed from Runway 33 at Toronto/Buttonville Municipal (CYKZ), ON, with the commercial pilot and the instructor on board, with the intention to conduct some circuits at CYKZ. The wind was light and variable, so the aircraft joined the left downwind leg of the circuit for Runway 33, and planned for a touch-and-go.

At 1348 EDT on the initial touchdown, the aircraft bounced and full power was added to commence the takeoff portion of the touch-and-go. The nose of the aircraft was raised, the aircraft became briefly airborne, before returning to the surface abruptly. The nose was raised again, and the tail of the aircraft struck the runway as the aircraft became airborne again, albeit briefly. As the aircraft contacted the ground the third time, the outer right flap hinge and right wheel contacted the ground outside of the runway surface laterally, approximately 1000 feet from the runway end. The nose was raised again, and the aircraft continued the take-off roll on the ground, beyond the end of the runway, then struck a 4-foot-high fence, located 60 feet past the runway end. Past this fence, the terrain slopes down toward 16th Avenue, which crosses the departure path perpendicularly. The aircraft crossed 16th Avenue in the air, in a right bank, and dragging the right wing tip. The aircraft passed directly in front of a tow truck that was in the westbound lane, and the driver of the vehicle captured the event on dash-camera. North of 16th Avenue, the terrain rises rapidly; the aircraft collided with the ground, and came to a stop approximately 250 feet past the end of Runway 33. The two occupants were wearing 4-point safety belts and received no significant injuries. The aircraft received significant damage to the wings, nose, tail, landing gear, and propeller.

The aircraft was equipped with an Avidyne FlightMax Entegra flight display that recorded engine and GPS data. The unit recorded one data point every 6 seconds. This data was acquired and analyzed by the TSB following the accident. It was noticed that, following the initial touchdown on Runway 33, the engine RPM and manifold pressure increased to full, followed by a significant reduction, and then a return to full. During the touch-and-go attempt, the recorded ground speed steadily decreased from 61 kts at the initial touchdown point, to 52 kts shortly before impact.

Media materials

Deployment notice