This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
Our concern here in the Tehachapi Valley in California are the two airports close together with traffic patterns that have been known to conflict with each other.
Tehachapi Municipal Airport (KTSP) has a southside pattern and Mountain Valley Airport (L94) a northern pattern. The airports are two miles apart.
The traffic pattern for KTSP is over the city, schools, etc. A north pattern is mostly over cow pastures.
However the city, the sponsor, has interests in development of the north side and knows the Kern County Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan would curtail such if the pattern was moved to the north side.
We had a stall spin accident into a town building in the past. The pilot was killed but luckily no fire.
I also have information from one of the sailplane tow pilots from the other airport, Mountain Valley, addressing his many encounters with aircraft in the pattern at KTSP.
Pilots here have had no interest for this problem from the city of Tehachapi, we would like the FAA to look into this safety concern.
Primary Problem: Airspace Structure
ACN: 1917537
Having flown for many years out of KTSP and gliders out of L94, the airport traffic can become challenging, especially on a busy spring weekend with lots of glider traffic. Both airports are surrounded my mountains (opposite sides of a valley) and many pilots are reluctant to fly an “alternate” pattern (I know the FAR pundits will have many regs to regurgitate about that). But the fact is to look outside for traffic, constantly, when flying in this airspace. Most gliders do not have ADS-B, let alone a comm radio. They are also small and difficult to see while in flight. See and avoid and take action to ensure a safe flight. It’s always the PIC responsibility.
Easy! Establish straight in finals from beyond the development areas. You reduce exposure to population, you reduce conflicting airport traffic.
Of coarse there is a problem with rote trained pilots that need the mailbox with the bird setting on top to know when to turn and set rpm to 1500.