tonycondon
Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Had a good one today, could also be titled "when to NOT abort your takeoff"
Both runways in use today at the airport with pretty much all powered traffic on 19 and glider/towplane traffic on 13. This keeps incursions and go arounds to a minimum but also presents some challenges in keeping track of traffic. I staged my glider to get ready to launch as a 172 was on final for 19. Once I was ready he had landed and cleared the runway. I signalled and radioed that I was ready to takeoff. Towpilot made a radio call that we were departing 13. The 172 was taxiing parallel to 19 and came to the 13/31 crossing. As we were rolling (I was airborne) he made a radio call that he was crossing 13/31 and started to roll onto the runway. Towpilot made a fast and stern call "traffic HOLD SHORT" I started to go for the release. The 172 saw us and gave it lots of power and quickly got across the runway. I could see as it was unfolding that the towplane would be airborne and able to climb over him even if he had been on the runway. If either one of us had aborted it would've only compounded the situation.
so obviously there are times when, on the surface, an abort would seem appropriate, but really its not the best thing to do.
Good news is the 172 pilot came over and apologized to the towpilot. All's well that ends well and the 3 of us all learned something.
Both runways in use today at the airport with pretty much all powered traffic on 19 and glider/towplane traffic on 13. This keeps incursions and go arounds to a minimum but also presents some challenges in keeping track of traffic. I staged my glider to get ready to launch as a 172 was on final for 19. Once I was ready he had landed and cleared the runway. I signalled and radioed that I was ready to takeoff. Towpilot made a radio call that we were departing 13. The 172 was taxiing parallel to 19 and came to the 13/31 crossing. As we were rolling (I was airborne) he made a radio call that he was crossing 13/31 and started to roll onto the runway. Towpilot made a fast and stern call "traffic HOLD SHORT" I started to go for the release. The 172 saw us and gave it lots of power and quickly got across the runway. I could see as it was unfolding that the towplane would be airborne and able to climb over him even if he had been on the runway. If either one of us had aborted it would've only compounded the situation.
so obviously there are times when, on the surface, an abort would seem appropriate, but really its not the best thing to do.
Good news is the 172 pilot came over and apologized to the towpilot. All's well that ends well and the 3 of us all learned something.