Aircraft/Car contact

[Hot_Charlie]

Yes, the plane was low, but not especially low for that airport, which has a short runway (3500 feet), a 10'+ hill, and the road within 100 feet of the threshold.

There's also a marked displaced threshold (about 440ft inset), which it appears, on the evidence of the video, the pilot had been taught not to use.

Personally I don't think it's fair to blame either pilot or driver. I think the finger of blame will (should) ultimately rest with the airport operator and/or the flying school involved. If they routinely used the entire runway length, why did they not fit active control to the access road, or close/move the road further away?

With the direction of the car's arrival, the pilot would have always been unsighted. As for the driver, light pistons on final (particularly with no flap!) can be exceptionally quiet, and for someone who may have no aviation knowledge or experience, you can't expect them to know any better.

[Nigel H-J]

I once had an interesting experience when gliding at RAF Swinderby, flying a K8 single seater and on coming in to land I observed a slow moving RAF crash ambulance approaching from right to left and anticipated that it would stop to allow me to land....wrong!! ....the ambulance just carried on and left me with no option but to bring in the airbrakes and fly overhead of him landing much further down from the launch point meaning a lengthy walk back hand-pushing the glider to the launch point

I eventually managed to meet up with the civilian driver and asked him why he did not give way to me his reply left me speechless...............Ambulances have priority over aircraft!! Good job Swinderby was not an operational flying station otherwise he would have lost his airfield driving permit for good!!!!!

[Garry Russell]

Sorry guys but the driver is solely to blame

There is a stop sign there which means like at any junction you stop and check it's clear before proceeding. He didn't and collided with an aircraft that had right of way.

OK, so it needs reviewing and whoever let it be that way is a moron, but, stop means stop and the driver should have and didn't and that is the reason the collision occurred.

[Nigel H-J]

Hi Garry Have not seen the video myself as IT block YouTube but from having been an experienced driver on active airfields during my RAF years I wholly agree with what you have written, all vehicles must give way to aircraft and no vehicle should cross an active runway without either permission from ATC or first stopping and looking for approaching aircraft.

It is only common sense after all surely?

Kind regards
Nigel.

[TSR2]

I have to say, the "Stop Sign" looks like it was painted on the road with B&Q value white emulsion I'm with HC on this one

[Airspeed]

Yep, they were all lucky to have lived through it.
The report said the road was privately owned, so control was not with the airport.
In Australia, most level crossings have boom gates, bells, and flashing lights.
Last week end, traffic was stopped at such a crossing, but a truck coming the other way, did not.
Some people will not be told, regardless. This happened in full daylight, see link:

http://dandenong-leader.whereilive.com. ... ain-crash/

Tomorrow, Thursday, we're visiting some friends in Newlyn, between here and Ballarat.
Their antique shop, workshop and adjacent house are on a straight section of the Midland Highway in an 80kmh zone.
At 2am today, a "B-double" truck managed to veer off the highway, demolish the workshop, and continue out the back,
destroying their tree nursery. Again, sheer luck saved them, as the layout is/was:
....................................,,, N U R S E R Y
Small antique shop House Workshop Large antique shop
M I D L A N D =============================== H I G H W A Y

If I get more detail tomorrow, I may update this.

[NigelC]

The pilot of the Cessna nor the driver of the SUV were responsible for this accident. Responsibility lies with the pillock that allowed an uncontrolled road that close to an active runway

Didn't say the Driver wasn't at fault but that the responsibility for this situation arising lies elsewhere.

[Chris Trott]

Remember guys, this was the student's first solo landing (the news article isn't clear, but I've heard from others that it was indeed his first solo and thus why his wife, the airport manager, and others were there watching). There is no evidence he'd flown the approach this low before or used all the runway prior. When the instructor steps out for the first time, many pilots get nervous. Very nervous. That first landing is a very tense one but once it's done, you relax and things get better. My first solo landing, even with all my time in FlightSim was very nerve wracking. I was low (not that low) and ended up floating down a good chunk of the runway (which was 7000+ feet) before landing because I was so nervous of hitting too hard and did everything I knew not to do with the Piper Warrior I was flying and it ended up with a very sub-par landing compared to all the ones I'd done with the instructor in the cockpit. However, after that, I relaxed and was able to fly the other 2 landings just fine.

I know on some other forums that the pilot is being thrown under the bus because he was low, but I've seen much worse first approach and landings, even with a lot of training. I think too many whom are commenting on one particular thread have been so far removed from their first solo they don't remember what it was like and they're not factoring that into it, instead thinking that just because the instructor steps out of the cockpit the guy should be able to make a perfect landing and not make mistakes. Yeah, he was low. Yeah, he may not have seen the car, but it was his first solo landing. He was worrying about flying the plane and making that first landing with everyone watching, a normal human reaction that only gets worked out with time.

[Garry Russell]

Flying the 'plane was all he should be concerened about and of course things can and do happen to catch anyone out.

But in this case the driver should have stopped where it said stop...how difficult is that??

[TSR2]

To be fair, I don't think I'd have stopped at the sight of that "writing" on the road, it looks like something someone has graffitied on