Prop Strike on a Farm Strip
You are flying a privately owned Cessna 180 with one passenger, landing at a farm strip 30 km inland from Gisborne. On the landing roll the left main wheel drops into a soft patch, the aircraft swings left and the propeller strikes the ground; one blade is bent and the outboard left wing and flap are wrinkled. Neither occupant is hurt; there is no fire and no fuel leak. The aircraft stops 40 m from the strip's eastern boundary and blocks the only usable landing direction. The farmer wants to tow it to a shed with a tractor before dark. There is no cellphone coverage at the strip, but the farmhouse a kilometre away has a landline. It is 1630 on a Friday. The engine was running when the propeller struck and the propeller has not been inspected. The weather is fine and there is no other traffic.
1. Classify the occurrence and state what must be notified, to whom, and how urgently.
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Classification. A bent propeller blade together with wrinkled wing and flap skin is not minor damage. On the usual tests - damage adversely affecting structural strength, performance or flight characteristics, and normally requiring major repair or replacement of a component - this is an accident (or at worst a serious incident). The absence of injuries does not downgrade it. Where classification is genuinely borderline, the correct approach is to report as an accident and let the investigators reclassify; under-reporting is an offence and destroys evidence.
Notification
- The accident must be notified to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC), which investigates accidents and serious incidents, and to the CAA under the accident and incident notification rules. Notification is required as soon as practicable - the landline at the farmhouse is the tool, and a 1630 Friday is not a reason to wait until Monday.
- Notify the aircraft owner, the insurer, and (if the strip is used by others) the local users so nobody attempts to land on a blocked strip.
- ATC notification is not needed here - the occurrence is outside controlled airspace and there is no distress traffic - but if I had been receiving a service, I would tell the unit.
What I tell them: who, what, where, when, injuries, damage, whether the site is secure and whether anyone has moved the aircraft. I then complete the CAA occurrence report and the written report within the timeframe required by the rules.
2. What are the constraints on moving the aircraft, and what should be preserved?
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Constraints
- The aircraft should not be moved, and nothing should be disturbed, except to save life, prevent injury, or prevent further damage or danger (fire, fuel, a hazard to other aircraft), or with the authority of the investigating body. Removing or interfering with wreckage without that justification is an offence.
- The farmer's tractor is well meant, but towing the aircraft into a shed destroys the wheel track, the final resting position and the evidence of how the gear and propeller behaved.
- That said, the aircraft blocks the only landing direction, which is a genuine hazard. The proportionate response is to secure and mark the strip, warn local users, and - if the aircraft genuinely must be moved before dark - photograph and measure everything first, tell the investigating authority what I intend and why, and move it the minimum distance necessary.
Preserve
- Photographs and notes: the wheel track and soft patch, prop strike marks, the bent blade and its position, wing and flap damage, flap and trim positions, instrument readings, fuel state, time of the occurrence.
- Do not start or run the engine, and do not straighten or dress the propeller. Keep the damaged components.
- Names and contact details of witnesses, the farmer, and the passenger; a sketch of the strip and wind conditions.
The evidence gets used for airworthiness decisions as well as the investigation, so it protects the pilot too.
3. What must happen before this aircraft flies again, and what other follow-up does the pilot owe?
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Airworthiness
- A propeller strike is a defined event requiring inspection, and commonly engine strip and shock-load inspection per the manufacturer's instructions, not just a new propeller. The aircraft cannot be ferried or flown until an authorised person has inspected it, certified the work and issued a maintenance release.
- Records matter: defect log entries, the maintenance release, and a clear statement of what was inspected and replaced. The insurer will want these before paying.
Follow-up owed by the pilot
- Complete the CAA occurrence report and the written report accurately and on time, and keep copies.
- Cooperate with TAIC and the CAA, and do not publish speculation about cause on social media while the investigation is open.
- Check the strip: the soft patch that caused the swing is a hazard to every other user, so notify the strip owner and, where appropriate, the local aero club or the CAA's aerodrome information channels.
- Review my own decision-making: the approach and landing roll on a soft, unfamiliar farm strip, with a passenger, and the go/no-go factors I had. The report should describe facts, not self-justification, but the personal lesson goes in my own notes.
The pilot's duty does not end when the aircraft stops moving.