The pilot of the Pilatus reported that, after the local air traffic controller gave him an instrument flight rules clearance, he taxied the airplane from the ramp to the taxiway at the airport in Mesa, Arizona.
While turning onto the taxiway, the controller instructed him to give way to an airplane on the same taxiway. He acknowledged the instruction, stopped the airplane, looked left and saw a Cessna, which had already passed him.
He then looked right and did not see any other airplanes on the taxiway and continued to taxi. Shortly after, he realized the airplane’s propeller had hit something, so he immediately shut down the engine, deplaned, and realized that he had hit another Cessna that he had not seen.
The flight instructor in the Cessna reported that, while the student pilot was taxiing back to the ramp, they were instructed by the local air traffic controller to follow company traffic while passing another airplane to their left holding short of the same taxiway.
He then looked left outside of the window and saw a spinning propeller moving closer toward the airplane. He immediately grabbed the controls and hammered the right pedal, but the other airplane’s propeller hit their airplane’s left wing.
The Pilatus sustained damage to the propeller. The Cessna sustained substantial damage to the left wing.
A video provided by the airport authority showed that the Pilatus taxied left onto the taxiway from the ramp without stopping and that there was another airplane farther down the taxiway.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to follow the air traffic controller’s instructions and his subsequent failure to maintain adequate lookout to see and avoid the other airplane on the taxiway.
NTSB Identification: GAA19CA079A
This November 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.
‘Give way’ ‘is a very common instruction but is somewhat risky as this accident exemplifies. Another example is when advised on downwind to follow an aircraft on final and the pilot follows the wrong aircraft and turns in front of another. That was the basic situation involved in the widely discussed fatal accident of the Cirrus arriving at the Melbourne, FL airport. I don’t know what the required instructions are for the controllers, but think it would be a lot safer for them to require the pilot to confirm visual contact with the traffic in such a way that it can’t be mistaken with other traffic before instructing to ‘give way’ or ‘follow that traffic’. Many times I’ve heard controllers just say ‘hold your position’ or ‘stay on the downwind’ to avoid any misidentification. Regardless of what the controller can do and for the pilot’s own protection, when given any of these types of instructions that leaves the door open to misidentification, the pilot could let the controller know exactly what traffic is in sight, and wait a few seconds before moving or turning to give the controller a chance to hear that readback and correct any misunderstanding. This would also have prevented the runway incursion by Mr. Ford a few months ago at Hawthorne Municipal.
Give way to wouldn’t normally apply to an aircraft already past you. If you felt your prop hit something the size of an aircraft before you saw it, what were you looking at?..Obviously nothing around you, perhaps a G1000 instead of traffic….same as texting while driving.