AAIB investigation to Fournier RF4D, G-AWGN
Engine failure, Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome, Essex, 23 July 2023
The pilot of G-AWGN was flying his usual aerobatic display routine for an air display at Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome. During the eighth manoeuvre of the routine the propeller stopped. Unable to restart the engine the pilot positioned the aircraft for an abbreviated circuit and landed off the subsequent glide approach.
Both wingtip smoke generators were still emitting. Whilst the right generator stopped smoking soon after the aircraft had stopped, the left canister began burning with a yellow flame visible. Very shortly after the canister began to flame, the airport fire service arrived and were able to extinguish the flames with a short blast of a powder extinguisher.
The pilot commented that although he regularly practised glide approaches to ensure that he was prepared for an engine failure, he always did this to the runway threshold. During this flight, with the engine actually failed, he also made his glide approach to the threshold, as he had always practised, rather than initially aiming further up the runway.
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