An airline transport pilot in an aerobatic low-wing airplane, an Extra 300, with a passenger on board was landing while an airline transport pilot in a high-wing airplane, a Cessna 172, near maximum weight with two passengers on board, was conducting a short/soft-field takeoff from the non-towered runway on North Fox Island, Michigan, which was surrounded by tall trees.
The Extra pilot and passenger reported that the pilot’s landing intention was communicated on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) with no replies. They saw an airplane at the opposite end of the airstrip, and the pilot decided to land.
The Cessna pilot reported that he monitored the CTAF and then taxied down the center of the runway. He heard a radio call on the frequency from an airport on a nearby island.
The Cessna pilot made his departure radio call on the CTAF in the blind and conducted a rolling departure with as much runway ahead as possible. He said he did not hear or see any other airplanes.
The Cessna lifted off about 5 to 7 feet above ground level and accelerated to best angle of climb speed plus 10 knots.
The Extra pilot indicated he did not see any aircraft while he was on final approach to landing until his airplane was about 20-30 feet above the landing surface. That’s when he saw a bright object out the right side just in front of the wing. The Extra and the Cessna then collided.
The CTAF frequency at the island airport is not recorded. However, a witness monitoring another CTAF frequency on a nearby island overheard the pilot of an airplane calling intention to land and remarked to a customer that the call was on the wrong frequency.
It is likely that the Extra pilot was transmitting on the CTAF frequency for the airport on a nearby island. The Cessna pilot likely heard this transmission but attributed it to a pilot landing at the other airport.
The airport leaseholder’s website contained a link to pilot information, which included a safety briefing for the airport. The briefing recommended that the airport’s CTAF, as well as another local airport’s CTAF, be monitored.
The briefing also recommended that arriving aircraft fly over the airfield and scan for aircraft on the ground using a left traffic pattern. The briefing advised that the airport is in the Unimproved Airport Category and that pilots “land at your own risk.”
The Extra pilot’s use of an incorrect CTAF precluded him from hearing the Cessna pilot’s transmission of his intent to depart. In addition, trees surrounding the runway precluded the Extra pilot from seeing the Cessna’s departure until it was too late to take evasive action.
Probable cause: The Extra pilot’s failure to see and avoid the Cessna, which resulted in an in-flight collision. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the Extra pilot to tune his radio to the correct frequency, which resulted in no common traffic advisories being heard or recognized as relevant by either pilot.
NTSB Identification: CEN18LA298A
This July 2018 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
They saw the aircraft at the opposite end of the airstrip and decided to land anyway. On final they didn’t see the other aircraft until 20-30 feet off the runway.
So, seeing the aircraft you decided to land in the opposite direction and pay no attention to where the other aircraft is until you ran into it.
Brilliant….now, let’s blame it on the radios.
This is PRECISELY why the NORAD reg is bad. Sure each had a radio but without BOTH of them on those radios in constant contact especially in a non-towered environment…this is what you get. No it’s not rare…every non-towered field is experiencing daily near misses and if ANY plane is out there without a radio they are a menace to everyone and themselves.
What’s your beef with the North American Aerospace Defense Command?
Both aircraft had radios, one was NORDO because it was most likely on the wrong frequency. From my experience most NORDO aircraft have radios installed, but are on the wrong frequency, inoperative, volume turned down, or the pilot is just not listening.
On the 5th of July two airplanes collided in Idaho, killing 8 people. The pilot of one of them was an old friend of mine. Both airplanes had radios installed.
But, I am sure that gbigs has never dialed in the incorrect frequency in a radio.
Crazy, one-in-a-trillion set of circumstances. BTW, one nitpick.. the Extra 300 is a mid-wing airplane, not a low-wing.
Depends on the model. For example, the Extra 300 LP is a low-wing 🙂
Unfortunately one-in-a-trillion circumstances happen. There are at least two instances of runway collisions i know of where two simultaneous radio transmissions blocked each other, causing lack of situational awareness of the pilots. One was the PanAm-KLM crash in Tenerife. You must still be ever vigilant and keep those eyes outside the cockpit and that head on a swivel.
At this type of airport it is necessary to take extra precautions to keep yourself visual as much as possible when departing and check base and final from probably a mid-field position, and when arriving to maneuver to include a check of the blind beginning of the runway.