SUV pulls out in front of landing Cessna 172.

[RV8505]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/05/14942417-duck-home-video-shows-plane-hitting-top-of-suv?lite

[Green Goggles]

Eek! I would need a new change of pants after that.

[Frank Giger]

Yikes!

We have the same sort of approach at St. Clair County (PLR) and one has to adjust the glide angle to account for traffic. More than one motorist has been scared silly by a pilot going for a very shallow, low final.

[Hal Bryan]

During WWII, when de Havilland Canada was building Mosquitos at their Downsview factory, they had to put a traffic light to stop cars from doing this very thing. There were some great photos of this at the beleagured Canadian Air and Space Museum, but this was the best I could find online after a brief search - a photo of a photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78215847@N00/2407766765/in/photostream/lightbox/

[steveinindy]

2625 2626

These were taken at Stout Field here in Indianapolis around the time of WWII. That's Minnesota Street.

[CarlOrton]

I had a 172 based at that airport. Was the most convenient / closest one for me.

My son took some of his PPL lessons in that very aircraft in 2006. A few notes that weren't provided in the link above.

The folks in the SUV said on another TV station that they head out to 52F on a regular basis and are familiar with the protocol with that roadway.

There are no "traditional" stopsigns or "watch for low-flying aircraft" signs in place. The only markings are the words "STOP" painted on the roadway on each side of the runway.

The road / rwy are at the base of a slight hill/rise. The pilot was a bit lower than one would usually come over the fence, but, hey, I've done it myself a few times. Never really noticed if you could see a vehicle or not from the air if it was close.

I have no idea whether the SUV occupants stopped and looked or not, and it would be foolish of me to speculate.

Just thought I'd pass on a bit of additional information.

[Bob Dingley]

One RW at Dallas-Love had a perimeter road crossing just like this one. It was the first time that I saw the note "TCH" on a procedure.
Bob

[Dana]

Seems like that runway should have a displaced threshold...

[Tlim486]

I prefer White over White you can always get it to the runway,they looked way low for me! It was fortunate it ended as it did. It is to bad it happened another mark in the record books of GA. Which I hope we are all trying to preserve. VOTE tomorrow please!

[CarlOrton]

Seems like that runway should have a displaced threshold...
It does...

[Joe LaMantia]

I wonder how the insurance companies will deal with this, and what the NTSB will come up with as the cause?

Joe
:eek:

[FloridaJohn]

Seems like that runway should have a displaced threshold...


It does...

It used to. Not anymore.

[Frank Giger]

I wonder how the insurance companies will deal with this, and what the NTSB will come up with as the cause?

Joe
:eek:

My money is that the pilot is held to blame. Roadway incursion caused by too shallow a glide angle.

[S3flyer]

It used to. Not anymore.

Current AFD differs: RWY 17:VASI(V2R)—GA 4.5°. Thld dsplcd 400. Hill

[CarlOrton]

It used to. Not anymore.
Hmmm... My current AFD still lists it as a 400' displacement. Of course, airnav lists it as a non-std displacement marked only by a solid white line, no arrows.

Caveat: I haven't landed there since February 2012.

[rwanttaja]

Someone posted a claim to another forum that the displaced threshold was recently removed or moved nearly all the way to the end. Supposedly, the EPA wanted to put a system to monitor lead emissions due to 100LL at the end of the runway, and cited the displaced threshold to claim the installation would be safely out of the way of aircraft operations. The claim is that the airport management moved the displaced threshold to prevent the EPA from emplacing its boxes.

Makes a good story. Don't know if it's true.

In any case, the pilot was a student and I don't fault him much for coming in a bit low (curiously, the same forum says the FBO on the field dictates no-flap landings). The person driving the SUV *really* should have been watching. Heck, I check the approach path when I travel on a local major highway that passes the end the runways at Sea-Tac.

Ron Wanttaja

[FloridaJohn]

The first one is from 6-12-11 and the second one is from 4-4-12.

[Bill Greenwood]

My friend Jay Cullum used to keep his P-51 at Dallas Redbird. Once coming home in IMC weather, he had to fly the ILS into Addison. He was in clouds till breaking out about 400 feet ,and landed ok.

Later he got to thinking that maybe this wasn't too safe, so he went back and flew the approach in good vfr and was shocked to see how many big buildings were near the final approach path.


I have a little 51 time, would never want to have to fly an ILS is one. Even if you have good ifr instruments, the controls are more sensitive than many gen av airplanes,and there is more to do, ie the flaps have 4 positions and that is after you lower the gear which requires reaching low on the left front of the side panel and moving a lever. It is not just flipping a switch on the panel.

Most of all, you are just moving so much faster ,perhaps 150 on downwind, and 110 on final, about twice as fast as a 172 might be going. Your pattern speed to lower the gear is faster than the top speed of a 172.So you have that much less time to get things done and stay ahead or at least abreast of it all.
But man, what an airplane, and what an engine!

[Mayhemxpc]

You can see the displaced threshold markings in the video, if you look hard. The plane would have landed past the threshold. He was, perhaps, a little low, but not particularly so. Were there operating VASI? Even then, once landing is assured in the first third of the runway...

Very short final, rounding out, he probably never saw the car, nor should he be expected to have seen it.

It doesn't matter if there is a red octagonal sign or not. Stop means stop. There is a reason for the marking. (I know, people who stop when they are supposed to at regular stops signs are a rarity. All the rest scare the #@$% out of me, especially when I am on a bicycle.) People who were supposed to be familiar with the airport should even know why those lines are there. To me it sounds like careless and reckless...driving.

I don't have the regs handy right now, but it seems that this kind of hazard would be addressed in airport design.