When 99% isn't good enough

[Matthew]

My home airport is usually very busy, until the tower closes at 9pm. Then, you get the place to yourself about 99% of the time.

Saturday night, 1030PM was the 1% that almost caught a few folks. 4 aircraft converged on the airport, and only two were making calls.

Runway is 18/36 and winds were minimal at 90.

CFI and I were on 2-mile final for 18 when aircraft #2 called a 2-mile final for 36. Each of us had been calling, no problems, no surprises. #2 volunteered to make left downwind for 18 and land after us.

We got down, as I left the runway, I saw aircraft #3 on a taxiway intersection. As soon as we cleared the runway, #3 departed 36 just as #2 was turning left base 18. Because #3 was not calling, my CFI began giving position reports to #2. #2 thanked us, gave way and began setting up for a landing on 36.

I taxied to park, and saw strobes to the north. I could see a pair, so aircraft #4 was either headed directly toward or away from us, but I could not make out any other nav lights. Just as #2 was on a short final for 36, #4 turned on his landing light - on a 1-mile or less final for 18. CFI warned #2, #2 went around, again, while #4 landed.

#4 taxied and parked near us. My CFI jumped out while I was shutting down the plane. I was trying to get untangled from headsets and flashlights because I wanted to get in on this in case it got ugly, but one of our line crew was already there. He had been listening on his handheld and getting tail numbers. Pilot of #4 claimed he was calling, listening, looking, and didn't see or hear anybody else. What freq? - "Whatever the GPS said." What freq? - "UNICOM, I think" (UNICOM does not equal CTAF at our airport).

Anyway, nothing broken, and another lesson learned.

 

[jdwatson]

The AF/D is king.

Good write up. Night flying is a blast, but with calm winds & pilot's choice for landings one has to keep situationally aware. Good job on both of you. I wonder if aircraft #2 got tired of flying patterns in opposite directions all night.

 

[gismo]

Anyway, nothing broken, and another lesson learned.

Probably the absolute worst situation in the pattern is someone who's talking on the wrong freq. He thinks he must be by himself since no one else is talking and therefore doesn't spend enough time looking for other traffic.

 

[Brian Austin]

What freq? - "UNICOM, I think" (UNICOM does not equal CTAF at our airport).

I had the hardest time with this at first. Some places, UNICOM=CTAF. Others UNICOM<>CTAF. I finally got it through my thick skull, though. Check the AF/D for everything...including its expiration!

 

[Greebo]

Yes, Martin State is the same way. Our UNICOM is on a separate frequency from Tower, and the tower freq becomes the CTAF freq when the tower is closed.

 

[Bill]

Our UNICOM is on a separate frequency from Tower, and the tower freq becomes the CTAF freq when the tower is closed.

OK, something I've always wondered. Similarly, at Chattanooga, unicom is a separate freq from app, tower, cd, etc., and after hours, tower freq becomes CTAF. So, what IS unicom used for at airports like these? Not for contacting the FBO on field, they have their own freq...

 

[Greebo]

At KMTN, the Unicom freq is used to order fuel and make other ground requests.

 

[Matthew]

I think the thing that bugged me the most was the attitude that the GPS "knows all". A simple look at the sectional would tell you the freq, my guess is the guy doesn't remember how to use a chart anymore. Without the CTAF, I don't know how he was expecting to turn the runway lights on.

My lesson from the whole thing was - play the odds, keep them on your side, but never, ever depend on them.

There is always that 1 time out of 100 when things won't go the way you hope or expect. Simple example - nobody ever does an intersection departure (at least 99% of the time) at our airport, I was concentrating so much on finding the taxiway turnoff in the dark I didn't see the other plane (#3) lost in the lights (he wasn't strobing yet) until just as I began my turn. I smacked myself upside the head for not paying enough attention and used another turnoff.

 

[Greebo]

Well its entirely possible that the GPS did know all - that it had the right CTAF AND Unicom freqs in it - I know ours does - but that the user didn't stop to look at what options were avialable and think, "Which should I use" and just picked UNICOM out of habit.

Not that doing that is OK...but its IMO, probable.

 

[Matthew]

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. I'm sure the GPS has the proper freqs, but it still comes down to knowing which one to use. Not just the first one in the list.

 

[Rudy]

When I was on my 2nd supervised solo I had a guy come in the pattern on the wrong frequency, i had him in sight the whole time and continued to make radio calls, he landed shortly after I did and went into the office and asked "who is that in that Cherokee, and what the hell is he doing" haha , Grandpa and the other airport guys asked him what frequency he was on and he said 122.8, well we use 123.00. No harm done, but i bet that guy felt like an idiot after going in and throwing a fit when he was in the wrong.

 

[Skip Miller]

Well its entirely possible that the GPS did know all - that it had the right CTAF AND Unicom freqs in it - I know ours does - but that the user didn't stop to look at what options were avialable and think, "Which should I use" and just picked UNICOM out of habit.

No amount of technology can fully compensate for stupidity and/or carelessness. This is true in aviation and everywhere else, too.

-Skip

 

[ScottM]

I moved to an airport a coupl eof months ago that has a lot of planes that have no electrical systems and the pilots don't carry radioes. It takes a bit of getting uto but I am getting better at keeping my head on a swizel looking for planes that are not making any radio calls

 

[Greebo]

No amount of technology can fully compensate for stupidity and/or carelessness. This is true in aviation and everywhere else, too.

-Skip

Amen to that. I've said it I don't know how many times, if I could make software idiot proof, I could retire early on the royalties.

 

[astanley]

I think the thing that bugged me the most was the attitude that the GPS "knows all". A simple look at the sectional would tell you the freq, my guess is the guy doesn't remember how to use a chart anymore. Without the CTAF, I don't know how he was expecting to turn the runway lights on.

My lesson from the whole thing was - play the odds, keep them on your side, but never, ever depend on them.

There is always that 1 time out of 100 when things won't go the way you hope or expect. Simple example - nobody ever does an intersection departure (at least 99% of the time) at our airport, I was concentrating so much on finding the taxiway turnoff in the dark I didn't see the other plane (#3) lost in the lights (he wasn't strobing yet) until just as I began my turn. I smacked myself upside the head for not paying enough attention and used another turnoff.

Think of the accident trajectory here and how you avoided it.

This guy transistions into your airspace, and looks up the information on his GPS. Let's assume his card is current; he believes that he has the most current information since his card is current. Potentially, he trained at an airport where UNICOM = CTAF.

He punches in whatever frequency the GPS has in it (or the wrong one, reading the wrong line), and starts blabbering away. Maybe he does 3 or 5 clicks to get the lights working, looks over, and alas, the lights are on.

The frequency is quiet, he has the lights on, he has crosschecked everything... and to him, he is alone and has let his guard down.

The question you have to ask yourself is, let's say you were on the other side of the equation, and there was no one on the proper CTAF. So the lights go up, the frequency is cold, and you are setting up for landing.

It is a very positive indication that you picked up on the opposing traffic, using one of the primary safeguards against swapping paint: your eyeballs. The other pilot sure failed his "see-and-avoid" test. But you have to wonder, what happens when it is just the two of you, blathering away on your own frequencies, without a clue as to who is there? Would you have "the head on the swivel" if you didn't hear anyone else? If it was a 99% night, at least according to the radio?

Cheers,

-Andrew
not a CFI, not an instructor, didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but I do study accidents pretty heavily and utilize them in modeling how my company executes business.

 

[woodstock]

here is a thought... not sure how safe this is but wonder if it would get the guys attention..

it's nighttime. presumably you click the lights on and off. IF he is high enough that you aren't going to scare the crap out of him by turning the lights off as he is on short final, if you clicked them off, he might get a clue when he can't turn them on again.

then again he might execute a go around or something which would put him in your way again.

maybe it's a good idea to proactively always have unicom as your secondary radio and switch over and say WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING LUNKHEAD.

hindsight is 20/20 though.

 

[Greebo]

Those would get the guys attention, but in a very negative way. In fact, tinkering with the lights might even qualify you as "interfering with the flight of an aircraft" in an actionable way?

 

[woodstock]

true, if it's going to cause a mid-air you can at least comfort yourself that THEY were the ones who screwed up, and not you.

 

[gismo]

No harm done, but i bet that guy felt like an idiot after going in and throwing a fit when he was in the wrong.

Nah. He probably went away thinking it was somebody else's fault that he had the wrong freq. He shouldn't have been throwing a fit even if you were silent on the radio, as radios are optional.

 

[gismo]

Yes, Martin State is the same way. Our UNICOM is on a separate frequency from Tower, and the tower freq becomes the CTAF freq when the tower is closed.

AFaIK that's true most anyplace that has a part time tower. There may be exceptions, but I'll bet there's a lot more airports like this than ones where the CTAF changes to unicom when the tower closes. At my home base, the ATIS becomes ASOS which includes a reference to the CTAF in the remarks.

 

[ejensen]

it's nighttime. presumably you click the lights on and off. IF he is high enough that you aren't going to scare the crap out of him by turning the lights off as he is on short final, if you clicked them off, he might get a clue when he can't turn them on again.

In my experience once the lights are on you can't turn them off, only control intensity. Still should be enough to alert him to the presence of another aircraft. I remember a night when another pilot and I sort of fought over the brightness level. I like dim and he preferred much brighter.

 

[Matthew]

At the time the guy tuned to UNICOM (or whatever) was on final, there was another A/C on short final (and communicating) from the opposite direction. We were on the taxiway and giving reports to the only A/C that was listening.

Monkeying with the lights or anything else would have been poor form.

With the benefit of hindsight in this situation - radios are optional. I've never had to approach/land without a radio, but I have been in situations with other a/c that were not communicating. This was a situation where the right-of-way rules and see-and-avoid rules came into play.

astanley - asked about the situation being reversed, what if I had been communicating and not hearing anybody else. I remember my long XC was one of those days where I was the only person in the air for 100 miles around. I monitored every airport I went by without hearing anybody. As they say in the movies, "It was TOO quiet". My assumption was that I was doing something wrong, on the wrong frequency, whatever, not that I was alone. Turns out, I was alone. Paranoia can sometimes help keep you on the lookout, I guess.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

In my experience once the lights are on you can't turn them off, only control intensity. Still should be enough to alert him to the presence of another aircraft. I remember a night when another pilot and I sort of fought over the brightness level. I like dim and he preferred much brighter.

Last week during a new flight student's 5th night landing attempt, the time ran out on the airport lights just as he was about to flare... perfect timing by Murphy for training . I never saw a pilot hit the PTT switch 7 times so fast to get those RWY lights back on ! ...I think we smelled a little smoke off that switch from the rapid fire.

 

[RotaryWingBob]

Probably the absolute worst situation in the pattern is someone who's talking on the wrong freq. He thinks he must be by himself since no one else is talking and therefore doesn't spend enough time looking for other traffic.

And sometimes not listening, either.

I had flight following from Atlantic City one time, and some moron at Flying W was self-announcing. On AC's frequency:

Moron: Flying W traffic, Cessna 12345 right crosswind runway one, Flying W.

ATC: Cessna at Flying W, you're broadcasting on Atlantic City's frequency.

Moron: Flying W traffic, Cessna 12345 right downwind runway one, Flying W.

ATC: Cessna 12345 at Flying W, you're on Atlantic City's frequency.

Moron: Flying W traffic, Cessna 12345 right base runway one, Flying W.

Unidentified a/c: Let me try. Cessna 12345 at Flying W, tune to 122.8, you're on Atlantic City's frequency.

Moron: Flying W traffic, Cessna 12345 base to final runway one, Flying W.

ATC: (Sigh). You can lead 'em to water but you can't make 'em drink...

 

[Missa]

Amen to that. I've said it I don't know how many times, if I could make software idiot proof, I could retire early on the royalties.

Nah, you can't make anything idiot proof. Once you do someone is surely going to make a better idiot.

Missa

 

[Missa]

Last week during a new flight student's 5th night landing attempt, the time ran out on the airport lights just as he was about to flare... perfect timing by Murphy for training . I never saw a pilot hit the PTT switch 7 times so fast to get those RWY lights back on ! ...I think we smelled a little smoke off that switch from the rapid fire.

He's lucky it worked at Troy the clicks have to be slow or they don't work <click> one hundread <click> two hundread <click> three hundread... etc.

I was taught when they go out in the flair... just fly the plane!

Missa

 

[ejensen]

And sometimes not listening, either.

I had flight following from Atlantic City one time, and some moron at Flying W was self-announcing. On AC's frequency:

Moron: Flying W traffic, Cessna 12345 right crosswind runway one, Flying W.

ATC: Cessna at Flying W, you're broadcasting on Atlantic City's frequency.

Moron: Flying W traffic, Cessna 12345 right downwind runway one, Flying W.

ATC: Cessna 12345 at Flying W, you're on Atlantic City's frequency.

Moron: Flying W traffic, Cessna 12345 right base runway one, Flying W.

Unidentified a/c: Let me try. Cessna 12345 at Flying W, tune to 122.8, you're on Atlantic City's frequency.

Moron: Flying W traffic, Cessna 12345 base to final runway one, Flying W.

ATC: (Sigh). You can lead 'em to water but you can't make 'em drink...

Thanks happen on our CTAF one evening. I talked to the pilot on the ground. He was talking on the right freq and listening on the wrong one. Wrong buttons pushed on his audio panel.

 

[jesse]

When the tower closes at my home airport the tower freq becomes the CTAF. ATIS becomes ASOS... The ASOS has a recording on the end that states the tower is closed that the CTAF is 118.3 (tower freq) and that the pilot controlled lights are on 118.3


Remember. Don't trust your radio for traffic avoidance. I reguarly operate out of airports that the pilots wouldn't even know how to turn a radio on , or actually be able to use it for that matter.

I had someone comment to me that my radio calls were worthless as most of the pilots would have no idea what I was saying. And all I said was that I was on the 45 for the downwind for runway blah blah.


Watch out for those ultralights. They are small, slow, and can climb like you wouldn't beleive. They don't generally ever use a traffic pattern.

 

[Rudy]

Watch out for those ultralights. They are small, slow, and can climb like you wouldn't beleive. They don't generally ever use a traffic pattern.

We have Cropdusters around here,
They don't have radios and usually land on whichever runway they are heading towards. I had one go underneath me and land when I was on base once!!
I saw him the whole way, but it was still pretty exciting.

 

[SkyHog]

In my experience once the lights are on you can't turn them off, only control intensity. Still should be enough to alert him to the presence of another aircraft. I remember a night when another pilot and I sort of fought over the brightness level. I like dim and he preferred much brighter.

At my home airport, the clicking works a little strange. 7 Times turns them on. 7 more turns off the approach lighting, but keeps the runway lit. 7 more turns off all lights.

 

[ScottM]

Those would get the guys attention, but in a very negative way. In fact, tinkering with the lights might even qualify you as "interfering with the flight of an aircraft" in an actionable way?

I've got three landing lights on my plane. The wingtip lights are also pulse lights. Those are on when I beging to get close to the airport and then the cetner light comes on, once on final the pulse lights are off and switched to constant on. Very noticable and not interfering with an aircraft.

 

[TDKendall]

This is another thread that I've printed in it's entirety to keep for future reference.

We're at a small un-towered airport and are working on avoiding issues like this. We work our FBO communications through the CTAF so that a pilot doesn't need to use two frequencies. Any of us who are on the ramp always carry a scanner or NAV/COM handheld to monitor/communicate with ground and airborne traffic if required. We're working with the City to iron out a static traffic pattern so that even on days of calm wind, IF (big if) pilots follow their training and local airport protocols, they'll know ahead of time where aircraft are in the pattern when they hear calls.

We don't want accidents at our airport and are doing everything we can to keep things safe for the pilots, passengers, ourselves and residents who live near the airport.

 

[gismo]

At my home airport, the clicking works a little strange. 7 Times turns them on. 7 more turns off the approach lighting, but keeps the runway lit. 7 more turns off all lights.

Are you sure about the last part? What you've posted is all quite "non standard", but AFaIK there isn't supposed to be a way to turn the runway lights off by the radio. You can dim them, but not shut them off at any PCL airport I've ever been to.

 

[gismo]

This is another thread that I've printed in it's entirety to keep for future reference.

We're at a small un-towered airport and are working on avoiding issues like this. We work our FBO communications through the CTAF so that a pilot doesn't need to use two frequencies. Any of us who are on the ramp always carry a scanner or NAV/COM handheld to monitor/communicate with ground and airborne traffic if required. We're working with the City to iron out a static traffic pattern so that even on days of calm wind, IF (big if) pilots follow their training and local airport protocols, they'll know ahead of time where aircraft are in the pattern when they hear calls.

We don't want accidents at our airport and are doing everything we can to keep things safe for the pilots, passengers, ourselves and residents who live near the airport.

Do you have ASOS? If so I suggest you put an announcement in the transmission about recommended traffic patterns especially the light wind one (and maybe what constitutes "light" winds).

 

[Matthew]

For one of my night dual-XCs, my CFI had me do a touch-go at an airport along
the way.

No problem, says I.

Another lesson learned - the PCL at this particular airport is on a different freq than the CTAF. Key the mike all you want, the lights stay off. However, read the A/FD and it's right there, just like it's supposed to be.

This airport happens to be in close proximity with about a half-dozen other fields, all sharing the same CTAF. To prevent you from trying to light your field and then lighting up every field within 20 miles, the PCLs are on different freqs.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

This is another thread that I've printed in it's entirety to keep for future reference.

We're at a small un-towered airport and are working on avoiding issues like this. We work our FBO communications through the CTAF so that a pilot doesn't need to use two frequencies. Any of us who are on the ramp always carry a scanner or NAV/COM handheld to monitor/communicate with ground and airborne traffic if required. We're working with the City to iron out a static traffic pattern so that even on days of calm wind, IF (big if) pilots follow their training and local airport protocols, they'll know ahead of time where aircraft are in the pattern when they hear calls.

We don't want accidents at our airport and are doing everything we can to keep things safe for the pilots, passengers, ourselves and residents who live near the airport.

There's an FBO at Ocean Shores ? Good to know. Where's the building ?

 

[BobS]

Two weeks ago I was coming home about nine o'clock at night. When I switched to Unicom (=CTAF at home) I heard a call "Helicopter 1234 right base 19." Helicopters regularly use right traffic so that didn't throw me. I announced ten miles out for the downwind, 19. However, it was a clear night and I didn't see the lights, so I called "Helicopter at Glens Falls, are you doing approaches in the dark?" Answer: "Yes, but we're cheating with night vision, let us know when you want the lights." It was a National Guard helicopter, practicing night vision approaches. I let him know when I needed the lights so as to let them flip up the goggles.

 

[woodstock]

For one of my night dual-XCs, my CFI had me do a touch-go at an airport along
the way.

No problem, says I.

Another lesson learned - the PCL at this particular airport is on a different freq than the CTAF. Key the mike all you want, the lights stay off. However, read the A/FD and it's right there, just like it's supposed to be.

This airport happens to be in close proximity with about a half-dozen other fields, all sharing the same CTAF. To prevent you from trying to light your field and then lighting up every field within 20 miles, the PCLs are on different freqs.

yipes! that would be pretty though wouldn't it.

 

[Matthew]

yipes! that would be pretty though wouldn't it.

Yeah. My CFI let me bumble around for about 5 minutes before telling me to dig out my A/FD.

This was near Wichita where the airports are so close together. I flew past one field with what I thought were parallel runways but turned out to be two seperate fields.

 

[TDKendall]

Do you have ASOS? If so I suggest you put an announcement in the transmission about recommended traffic patterns especially the light wind one (and maybe what constitutes "light" winds).

We're in discussions with the City to do several minor upgrades to the airport, 2 of which are ASOS and AWOS. They're balking at the ASOS (not enough traffic to warrant the upgrade) but are considering the AWOS.