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PA-46 skids on landing at Courchevel and hits a mound of snow

On landing at Courchevel, in the French Alps, the Piper PA46 touches down on runway 22 more than half over the high slope portion. The pilot braked hard, but the plane skidded on the runway and the aeroplane hits a mound of snow situated at the runway 04 threshold. The accident happened on February 8th 2019. 5 occupants were onboard, and 4 received minor injuries.

Comments

DirtyDan'04
(U.s.a)
That gotta hurt. I just hope the pilots are strapped in, or they'll end up with serious head injuries. Good choices on those planes, Carl Hackert. They better clear up all that snow properly. That slope makes it dangerous, too. Do better job at clearing snow mounds.
23rd September, 2022
Skwk
I can’t lie, that was a pretty funny fail right there. I imagine the pilots getting a face full of snow...lol
24th November, 2020
Carl Hackert
Saratoga Springs, Ny (Usa)
The Malibu Mirage's speed was too high, the approach was flat and they seemed to float in ground effect. The runway was wet with melting snow and runway length is under 1,800 feet! The field elevation is about 6,500 and they touched down 200+ too long. The brakes probably locked judging by the tires squealing on the downslope. It is hard to tell how many degrees of flaps were used on the flat and fast approach. Even if the Piper had a prop pitch reverse feature (BETA mode), they probably would not have been able to stop. The airport has are no glideslope landing aids other than the painted touchdown zone at the threshold and there is no go-around procedure because of the mountainous terrain. The type of aircraft that are successful landing at Courchevel are helicopters, DHC-6 Twin Otters, DHC-7 & Dash-7 STOL, Caravans and Kodiaks, and slower fixed-wing singles.
18th October, 2020