I still think both are at fault but more so the pilot since everything was laid out in front of him. First if this was his first solo or one of his first solo flights, this is his home field and has most likely landed at 52F a bunch of times with an instructor. Second, if he was low enough to hit a car, there was no way he was on track to make the actual landing zone. Third, landing on the area with they yellow arrows pointing to the landing zone is an automatic fail on a check ride. Can you get away with it, most likely, but not if you are caught by the right people.
Speaking of getting caught by the wrong people...Short story about when I was a student pilot. I went to Emery School of Aviation in Greeley, CO, located at Weld County Airport (GXY), now Emery Air College in Colorado Springs. I was on my final check ride with the FAA inspector. We had just done an oral exam and we were going out to fly. While in the run up area for rwy 09, a plane flew in a did a few circles just west of the airfield at a couple different altitudes. I thought it was kinda strange, so did the FAA. I was ready to go and the FAA guy had me sit still for a little, he wanted to see what this guy was doing, if he was having trouble or what.... The plane made a quick turn inbound...I mean really short final and landed. The inspector said,"follow him!" I looked at him for confirmation...he said, "go, go, go!". I pushed in the throttle a little and swung it around on the taxiway and began taxiing back to where this plane was heading. The inspector told me again to "come on lets go!" and he pushed the throttle in to about 2000rpm and we accelerated down the taxi way like we were going to take off. I don't remember exactly how fast we were going, but we were getting really light on the wheel, but I kept it on the ground. I slowed us down as we approached the taxi way that led to the hangers. As we got to the row the plane was, he told me to stop and shut it down right there. He got out and walked over to the other plane and talked to him for a little while, i'd say about 15 minutes, and returned. The inspector told me the other pilot was photographing wheat crops in a field just west of the field for the university. He got his ticket pulled right then and there for not paying attention to ground traffic and not making his intentions known thereto. The FAA guy told me all the other pilot had to do is get on the radio and tell us what he was doing. (I know that has nothing to do with what the pilot at 52F did). He said to regain his license he would have to take the written and flight tests again! He asked me to make a report in my own words about the actions of the other plane before he left for the day. Do you think I was nervous on the check ride to follow!??? Uh yeah, I was 19 years old. I passed though! I was a nervous wreck. Well, that's one of the only two or three flying stories I have. On , Edward Spyker <jes...@yahoo.com> wrote: > I have re-watched the video repeatedly, and am now a bit more critical of > the pilots approach. He probably could have floated to the displaced > threashold in the flare with a couple seconds of throttle, but you want > to try to be above the cars don't you. > Edward Spyker > ________________________________ > From: Edward Spyker jes...@yahoo.com> > To: KRnet kr...@mylist.net> > Sent: Friday, November 9, 2012 4:40 PM > Subject: Re: KR> Situational awareness > Joe said too low too soon. > I thought I would throw my hat in the ring too. > I have flown at http://www.airnav.com/airport/52F Northwest Regional > Airport airport a few times. The pilot only appears to be low, but this > is common, because there is a pretty good hill leading down to the > runway. Even that close to the ground he is flying down hill and would > not land short of the displaced threshold. Takeoff the opposite direction > is disconcerting at first, because you are close to the ground for a > while as you climb out too. There used to be red signs on the road, Kelly > Dr./Airport Rd., warning that you are about to cross a runway, to look > for and yield right of way to aircraft. These signs have faded to > unreadable, that's not the pilot's or the driver's fault. However there > is other signage leading up to the airport and nothing but airport > buildings where the drivers were headed, so I find it hard to believe > that they didn't know they were driving into an aircraft movement area. > The runway is 3500' North/South including > what is lost to the displaced threshold. There is often wind from the > West and there is another public road separating hangars at midfield. > This causes a near constant blow across the runway at midfield, so pilots > try to stick the landing at both ends to avoid maneuvering at stall speed > in ground effect at midfield. There are are great aerial photos on Google > Maps, if you zoom in on street view and then switch to satellite view. > http://maps.google.com/ then search Northwest Regional Airport, Roanoke, > TX 76262 > Edward Spyker > Relocated from Relocated to Not true?Show all editsNot true? > Relocated from Relocated to Not true?Show all editsNot true? > _______________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://tugantek.com/archmailv2-kr/search. > To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html
