Runway Checks

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B2Soar

Pre-takeoff checklist
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B2Soar
It was good to see that pre-landing runway clearing/inspection passes were popular and at airspeeds comfortably above minimum controllable.:thumbsup:

Rick
 
I have no idea what you are talking about....:D
 
All kidding aside, I'm really glad I did a pass on Saturday night when I flew the bridesmaids. Some kids were playing on the other end of the runway and there was no direct sunlight left in the valley. If I hadn't done the pass and scared them (and their dog) off the runway, I'd have probably hit them on landing. Didn't see them 'til the last minute and I wouldn't have had the energy to go around in time.

I don't care what the FAA says about low passes, I'm gonna keep doing them to stay safe.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I don't care what the FAA says about low passes, I'm gonna keep doing them to stay safe.
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Doesn't the FAA encourage low passes to scare the deer off the runway? I KNOW there are deer at Gastons! You see them every time you drive out of the facility, and there are signs everywhere reminding you of the heavy deer population.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Doesn't the FAA encourage low passes to scare the deer off the runway? I KNOW there are deer at Gastons! You see them every time you drive out of the facility, and there are signs everywhere reminding you of the heavy deer population.
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See Captain Ron's opinions about low passes. He seems to think the FAA discourages them. :dunno:
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Doesn't the FAA encourage low passes to scare the deer off the runway? I KNOW there are deer at Gastons! You see them every time you drive out of the facility, and there are signs everywhere reminding you of the heavy deer population.
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flyingcheesehead said:
See Captain Ron's opinions about low passes. He seems to think the FAA discourages them. :dunno:
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What if you don't fly low passes but instead fly at an appropriate altitude to ascertain the conditions and safety of the runway prior to making your final descent to ground level?
 
smigaldi said:
What if you don't fly low passes but instead fly at an appropriate altitude to ascertain the conditions and safety of the runway prior to making your final descent to ground level?
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I refer to these, and call them out, as "runway inspection flights/passes"

It could have been helpful this weekend for my dad, who almost pegged a deer after touchdown at Sidnaw. Dashed across the runway only 100' from him. An "inspection pass" can cause the dear to skeedaddle.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
See Captain Ron's opinions about low passes. He seems to think the FAA discourages them. :dunno:
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They don't discourage them. They actually advise them (at night, at least) as recently as this Fall 2007 publication:

While this is not a regulatory statement, it is in the FAA's own Aviation News magazine, subtitled "Aviation Safety from Cover to Cover":

Source: http://www.faa.gov/news/aviation_news/2007/media/SeptOct2007.pdf, page 18


During night operations, the FBO is still your best source of information. If no one is available, then carefully and safely announce your intentions.

º Before takeoff, taxi down the runway to try and scare any animals around the runway away.

º When landing, make a low fly-by down the runway. This will allow the pilot to see what may be on the runway and, hopefully, scare away any wildlife grazing along side the runway.
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An April 2009 document on faasafety.gov has the following, which challenges whether the FAA still considers low passes acceptable, even at night to scare off animals.

Ron, do you know of any enforcement actions against pilots who did this at night (or during the day) to scare wildlife away?

Source: https://www.faasafety.gov/files/gslac/library/documents/2009/Apr/33392/FLYING LESSONS 090402.pdf, page 3

Deer and other wildlife are often attracted to the relative warmth of pavement at dusk and again when the first of the sun’s rays hit at dawn. At particularly animal-prone airports many pilots make a precautionary pass down the runway in a balked landing maneuver to check for animals, and perhaps scare away any that are in the way.

Note this long-used safety technique has inadvertently come under fire of late, as FAA reasserts its prohibition against “low passes” over a runway as low-altitude flight not required for takeoff and landing, in other words illegal “buzzing”. I submit that a low pass for the purpose of detecting and clearing away obstacles on the landing surface and animal-prone airports, if done safely and for that specific purpose, is in fact “required for landing” in periods of dawn or dusk.
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It is one thing to do it on a moon lit night. Quite another to do it on a moonless, semi overcast night. We flew over it at about 9:15 on Friday night and there was NO definition at all. To even attempt the landing would fall under the category of "Careless or Reckless".
 
smigaldi said:
What if you don't fly low passes but instead fly at an appropriate altitude to ascertain the conditions and safety of the runway prior to making your final descent to ground level?
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What's "an appropriate altitude"? I do the low passes at about 50 AGL and full power - prop/engine noise is the most effective tool for scaring critters away.

If you mean pattern altitude, it wouldn't have helped in this case - The surrounding ridges had put the field into the shadows, and the kids were wearing dark clothing - In fact, I only saw one of them, and all I saw was a pair of legs and a face. (I'd seen 3 people and a dog at that end of the runway MUCH earlier in the day, and presumably it wasn't one person playing around by themselves.)

In the backcountry instruction I got, they suggested orbiting above the field to check out the situation first - Can you see any critters, what's the wind doing, which way will you fly to leave and where will your abort point be on takeoff, etc. However, you can't see all the critters from 1000 AGL, and at 1000 AGL you are merely a curiosity for them.

Later on, when flying into Gravelly Valley, CA, I saw a pair of elk on the runway from pattern altitude. They didn't even care to look at me - It took the good old "buzz job" to scare them off the runway.

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