French investigators are seeking tighter regulations to ensure safety for passengers who pay for on-demand flights outside of commercial air transport operations.
Investigation authority BEA is urging action from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency after a Piper PA-46 stalled and landed hard, badly damaging the aircraft, during a fourth attempt to touch down at Amiens Glisy aerodrome.
The PA-46 (N9190X) had been flown by a single pilot, with four passengers – one of them the aircraft owner, and three others who had paid for a flight reservation on an open platform specialising in matching customers to available aircraft and pilots.
BEA says the passengers had “assimilated” the flight – from Epinal-Mirecourt to Amiens on 14 September 2022 – with a service conducted by public passenger transport.
“The passengers had no knowledge of the difference in safety level between an own-account flight and a flight performed by an air operator holding an air operator certificate,” it states.
It also points out that the pilot was over 60 years of age and could not carry out a single-pilot public-transport flight.
Stormy weather in the vicinity of Amiens, including heavy showers, prompted the pilot to abort the first approach, after he acquired sight of the runway only after overflying half of it.
He then attempted two visual approaches, losing external references several times. The aircraft passed over Amiens at less than 1,000ft without complying with published instrument or visual procedures.
During the third approach, the passengers were “showing their irritation”, says the inquiry. “One of the passengers…got up and went to tell the pilot that he was moving away from the runway while showing him [the flightpath on] his phone,” it adds.
The pilot observed the precision-approach path indicator lights during the fourth approach, but believed they were installed on the left side – rather than the right – of runway 30.
This meant the PA-46 was misaligned and, at low height, the pilot saw the runway to his left and tried to correct the offset. The aircraft stalled and landed hard, sustaining damage to its undercarriage, buckling to its wing skin, and cracks in the wing roots.
None of the five occupants was seriously injured.
BEA states that the pilot had initially intended an RNP 30 approach, but was unaware that there was no aerodrome flight information service agent at Amiens, and did not comply with the regulatory requirement to carry out a reconnaissance circuit.
The inquiry also found the minimum altitude selected by the pilot corresponded to an approach with specific vertical guidance which could not be conducted with the aircraft’s avionics equipment.
BEA says the pilot nevertheless carried out an approach “based on improvised crew co-operation”, with the aircraft owner following the flightpath on his handheld tablet and making heading call-outs to the pilot – despite having neither the ratings, nor the experience and training, to perform such a task.
Lack of knowledge regarding the operating conditions at Amiens – notably the absence of the AFIS agent, indicted by NOTAM, and position of the precision-approach lamps – points to “inadequate preparation” for the flight, says the inquiry. The pilot also indicated lack of understanding of the aircraft’s navigation capabilities.
BEA says there has been “significant development” of platforms enabling passengers to be connected with aircraft providers and pilots, in various forms, amid an “absence” of European regulations to define clearly the roles and responsibilities of various parties.
It is recommending that EASA establish regulatory requirements to guarantee the safety of passengers using on-demand flights for remuneration outside of commercial air transport.
