Captain 'misread' runway in airport overrun

A passenger aircraft overran the end of Guernsey Airport's runway after its captain attempted a "gentle touchdown" while "misreading the perspective of the runway", investigators found.

The Gatwick to Guernsey Aurigny flight ran off the end of Guernsey airport runway in April 2024 and came to rest about 30m (98ft) beyond the paved surface.

A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said there were no injuries to the passengers or crew and the aircraft was undamaged during the "serious incident".

Following the incident, the AAIB said both Aurigny and the airline which leased the aircraft had made changes to their safety management systems.

The flight was being operated under a wet lease agreement, meaning the aircraft involved did not belong to Aurigny and the crew were not airline staff.

Following the incident, the AAIB said Aurigny now required one of its training captains to observe crews at the start of any new wet-lease operation.

The Channel Islands director of civil aviation has also introduced enhanced reviews for some foreign carrier permit applications involving wet-leases.

The AAIB said: "The serious incident was caused by the commander trying to make a gentle landing and misreading the perspective of the runway due to the runway slope and not realising that the aircraft was going so long.

"Due to the lack of experience of the other pilots on board, they did not inform the commander of the need to go around.

"Under the circumstances, having overshot the touchdown zone on a relatively short runway a go-around would have been expected."

The AAIB added: "Having touched down, the runway remaining was considerably shorter than planned but, judging he had sufficient runway ahead, the commander delayed applying full braking and did not make use of reverse propeller pitch to slow the aircraft.

"This proved inadequate to stop the aircraft in the remaining distance, although the aircraft left the runway at relatively low speed."

The AAIB's only formal safety recommendation was directed at aircraft manufacturer De Havilland Canada, urging it to improve access to emergency shutdown and evacuation checklists in the aircraft's quick reference handbook.

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