A Different Kind of Mid-Air Collision

[a2capt]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57545141-71/watch-a-small-plane-plow-into-an-suv-and-still-land-safely/

Straight from the "This Can't Be Good", dept.

I've landed at strips like that, with permission, and that's one of the things they tell you about when they give the permission. "That our runway intersects with a road" .. and cars are *supposed* to stop and look.

A private strip where the runway has absolute direct access with the surface streets is not uncommon at all in rural areas, even sights such as the aircraft landing and taxiing over to a near by gas station for fuel. It's usually pretty obvious when you see shortened street signs, or signs such as speed limit signs that are not on the shoulder, but way over. 

This particular airport however, http://goo.gl/maps/mZ5ia has no direct to the end of the runway access, and has an offset at each end for landing traffic to clear obstacles.


The crash happened at the beginning of the turnout area, and the aircraft landed abeam the compass rose. Far, far short of the solid white line.


If you've ever wondered why there's a displaced threshold, the video is a perfect example of it. A passing car should not have been a factor in a standard landing at that point. A passing semi truck, motorhome, bus, etc. Perhaps. But a car that is barely taller than the picket fence should not have been. It still should have yielded.

Looking at the map, the only reason someone is on that road is they are headed to an aviation facility. There's not much else on the other side of that. If I've invited out of town relatives over for Dinner, to my fly-in home, I might even be so inclined to specifically warn them that when they turn left, to STOP and look. Or I might even drive out there and meet them specifically .

The driver says "we did not pull out in front of an airplane, yet there would appear to be impact evidence that says otherwise. It certainly doesn't look like the car observed the wussy painted "STOP" on ground. That "warning" sign is dead center if the vehicle did a left turn onto the intersecting road there.

No one need an ambulance, which is a positive thing.


Kinda reminds me of this:

[NIN]

I think it was mentioned that it was the pilot's first solo flight (hence the video).  Guess he needs two more touch and goes to compliment this full-stop landing.

[coudano]

To complicate matters, it looks like a shallow and short landing to me.
Also a student pilot is probably pretty well fixated on his aim point off the dash, and probably not doing much looking at the road before the end of the runway, or off to either side.


One of the glider fields I used to fly at had an access road like this,
the runway parallel a country gravel road, and to get to the side with the hangar, you had to cross the field on the end by the fence.  There were a bunch of trees in the vicinity though, so usually the landings were steeper and/or longer, the only real danger was the towplane coming back down with the rope still on.  I wouldn't want to imagine what that would do to a person if it hit them (a metal snap swinging around in the wind at ?? mph) or a vehicle (meh).   STILL there was a sign with bright red letters, WARNING: low flying and landing aircraft.  STOP AND LOOK before crossing.

Another airport I flew off had power lines across the end of the runway, so everybody landed just a little extra steep there.  The published slope missed the wires, but nobody wanted to even be close, so they would hang to the top edge of the slope.  The road to the airport ran right under those lines, so no danger to cars.

[a2capt]

So that's what those wires are for.. to protect cars from evil airplanes..

[JeffDG]

That'll buff right out.

[Luis R. Ramos]

Another caption for A2's photo:

"Arresting gear wires? Oh, wait, where's the deck? The AIRCAFT carrier shipped out!"
Flyer

[Eclipse]

That'll buff right out.

My dad's a dentist, he's got tools!

[a2capt]

When they say the Cadet got an orientation flight with the C152.. this isn't what they meant.

But I guess .. if the a 747 can carry a Space Shuttle.. this shouldn't be that hard.


N48823 and N607FT, both only suffered minor damage, the student pilot in the 152 went on to pass her check ride a short time later. Interestingly, the NTSB report for this does not exist any longer. It's out there in forums and such but not in the official site.  MIA00SA047A

[JeffDG]

When they say the Cadet got an orientation flight with the C152.. this isn't what they meant.

But I guess .. if the a 747 can carry a Space Shuttle.. this shouldn't be that hard.

Yeah, but you need a multi-engine rating for it.

[SarDragon]

When they say the Cadet got an orientation flight with the C152.. this isn't what they meant.
[pic redacted]
But I guess .. if the a 747 can carry a Space Shuttle.. this shouldn't be that hard.


N48823 and N607FT, both only suffered minor damage, the student pilot in the 152 went on to pass her check ride a short time later. Interestingly, the NTSB report for this does not exist any longer. It's out there in forums and such but not in the official site.  MIA00SA047A

"- On Oct. 2, 2001, minor cases which do not fall under the definition of "accident" or "incident" were removed from the database; these entries were previously identified with "SA" in the accident number."

[a2capt]

A multi-engine rating with Slightly Centerline thrust only privileges ;-)

It's amazing that they locked the way they did. The props didn't tangle.

the Piper pilot said that he knew he had a mid-air, and was expecting it to start becoming uncontrollable and spin to the ground. But something happened .. he couldn't quite see from his side of the aircraft, the 152's wing on the right side, and couldn't see at all otherwise that he was locked into the 152.  Other than it just kept seeming to fly, he did light control inputs and eventually figured that he must be mixed up with the other one because this whole thing is still flying.

The CFI in the 152 took over, and figured the same thing except they knew they had the other on top, and aimed for the grass area because metal would spark on the asphalt/concrete. 

That main gear on that 152 is holding all that up. They all climbed out when it was all over.

With basically 90 degrees of flap on the left side, that whole contraption did quite well.

Figure that all the wings were still doing their job, and lucky they were near an airport, second only to open space. Both aircraft are still flying.

New flap on the 152, antenna(s), and windscreen..  the Cadet just had to get lifted off like a boat out of the water.