The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped Bearhawk reported that he was on an approach to land on a ridge near Elko, Nevada, with the sun partially blocking his vision.
He continued the approach and the airplane touched down on a slope, away from his intended landing point, and the left wingtip hit the ground. He added power, but the plane continued down the slope, nosed over, and came to rest inverted in a ravine.
Both wings were substantially damaged and the pilot sustained minor injuries.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s unstable approach to land, which resulted in a loss of directional control and subsequent nose over. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s decision to continue an approach in sun glare conditions.
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This January 2021 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
This same scenario happened to a fellow Trike pilot down in the Transkei Wild Coast. He did 3 go arounds and then tried to planted it. He should have flown a little longer around and waited 10 minutes for the Sun to dip behind the horison would still have plenty of light left
I have similar issues at my local unmanned airfield.
I am somewhat surprised at this incident, as the PIC you are accountable for the safe operation of your aircraft, surely if you dont have adequate visbility for a safe landing you cannot press on regardless.
When one can’t clearly see, in “VMC” 3 miles, because of glare of the sun, this becomes “IMC”. In VMC conditions on an IFR plan, and the sun and glare prevent one from seeing and avoiding any thing in front of you, you need to notify ATC of this situation so that they can provide info for avoiding other aircraft. BTDT on more than one occasion.
As a result, I think the NTSB has this backward. It was continuing the approach unable to clearly see the runway that was the primary cause. Given that the pilot couldn’t see the “runway”, how can the NTSB tell that this was an unstable approach? Because they didn’t land where they had intended?