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.
Aircraft 1: Skyhawk 172
Aircraft 2: PA-28
Narrative 1: Practice approach Runway XX. Making calls on CTAF regarding our location from 10 nm out. We hear one other aircraft taking off, with a subsequent call are staying in the pattern. 5 mile call made with altitude, distance to the runway.
Other plane is on downwind now. We make a short final call out approximately 2 nm out on descent, and add that we plan to go missed.
Next we hear a base call, followed by the plane turning base. ADS-B yellow warning pops up. We call again short final. Reply on CTAF, “We got you in sight.”
I am 200 above minimums for the approach and throw off goggles. My safety pilot exclaims, “There he is, he is turning final inside of us!”
I see the belly of his low-wing plane right in front of me and maybe 200 below and we power and pitch up. As I am over the approach end of the runway, the plane is landing right below us, while we are at similar speeds, then makes a going around call.
We turn left to avoid a collision from their ascending into our flight path.
I regret making a radio call asking “is there an instructor on board of your plane,” as I recall two voices in their pattern calls. The female voice says “yes.” I asked her, “Can you relay to your instructor how dangerous and close that turn inside our final was?”
The male voice then comes on the radio berating me, yelling about, “Where did you go to school? How many hours do you have? You don’t know the regulations. You are never supposed to do a straight-in approach, and you should merge in the traffic pattern.”
“Accident avoidance is both of our jobs,” was my only reply.
Confusion about this regulation and the bizarrely dangerous attitude on display by turning inside the short final of another plane intentionally created a very unsettling situation for myself and my safety pilot/student.
We should be able to do low approaches and made all the appropriate calls.
He chose to make a base and then final inside of us, claiming to have us in sight.
I think I will not likely continue another training approach when I see a pilot making a close base turn, and abort the practice approach sooner.
At the same time I feel that this kind of attitude and endangerment in front of a student justified my making a call. I will not likely do that again either given the reaction I received.
Narrative 2: I was pilot monitoring/safety pilot for a CFII who was performing practice instrument approaches under foggles in VFR conditions for maintaining currency.
We were flying the RNAV GPS XX approach to Runway XX at ZZZ. While maneuvering 10 or so miles southeast of the field, I was monitoring the CTAF and noticed a pilot flying left-hand patterns to Runway XX.
I made a radio call announcing our intentions to fly a straight-in practice approach to Runway XX at this time.
Once over the FAF, I made a second radio call announcing we were around 6 miles out and that our intentions were to make a low approach to approximately 400 feet AGL, minimums, and then proceed out of the area on a runway heading.
I made a third radio call announcing 3 miles out. At this time, it was noted the other aircraft made a position call of “in the downwind for Runway XX.”
A few moments passed while I was looking for the downwind traffic. I did not see it, so I made another position call of “on short final for Runway XX.”
After making this call, I observed the other plane, a low-wing, making a left turn onto base, above and inside us. The other plane announced a base turn and noted over CTAF “that they had us in sight.”
I remember the statement as I found it unlikely that a low-wing plane that was turning away from us and above us could possibly see us.
We did have them in sight and slowed our speed a bit. I don’t remember our exact altitude but we were above minimums — probably around 600 feet AGL.
The other plane asked if our plan was to fly a low approach, which we confirmed was still the case — we had been making position calls as such for the previous 10 minutes.
I assumed, given this question, he was going to turn a 360 or turn left and rejoin the downwind.
To my surprise, he dove towards the runway and landed on Runway XX. We came probably within about 500 feet of each other.
As we were flying over the runway on runway heading, near minimums but climbing, we noticed the other plane was doing a touch-and-go. We expedited our climb and turned left to exit the area.
Had we continued our low approach on runway heading, the low-wing plane would have climbed into us.
The pilot flying aboard my plane made a call to the other plane to debrief what had happened.
The other plane was being piloted by a female, who had been making some earlier radio calls, with a male onboard who identified himself as a CFI. The pilot flying was upset at what had happened and voiced his frustration over the CTAF.
The other CFI responded with comments such as “I’m not sure where you got your license,” “how many hours do you have,” “you’re in the wrong,” “practice instrument approaches are supposed to sidestep the runway.”
The pilot flying responded that we had been making position calls and that it was everyone’s responsibility to “see and avoid.”
I believe the event causation was expectation bias. Myself as pilot monitoring, expected the other plane to extend downwind. The other aircraft expected us to sidestep from the approach.
I believe we had the right-of-way, as by the time the other plane turned base, we were configured and preparing for landing, at a lower altitude, on a short final.
Looking inward, we could have broken off the approach sooner, especially if the other aircraft had not called us “in sight.”
Primary Problem: Airport
ACN: 2032179
I make my call 10 miles out, then 5 miles out, then entering on a 45 for runway xx with no radio response or visual traffic. I make my call on the downwind, turning base, and turning final. Upon turning final a see a high wing C-120 or similar turning base lower and closer to the runway. No response. Either he is on the wrong frequency or NORDO. No big deal, I move to the right of runway making a low approach watching him land and do a go-around because he has the right a way.
I’ve been the person on downwind with someone shooting the ILS approach at a NTA. Once the person on the ILS was a biz-jet. I offered to extend and asked them for their landing light, which they turned on for me, I extended until they passed, turned an extend base and they were off the runway by the time I was on short final. Cost me about 3 minutes and I made what for me was a non-standard approach. Good practice. Situation depends on the traffic. If it’s a jet or a large turboprop, I extend, if it’s a piston single, there’s usually room for a short base/final. Situational awareness is everything.
Well said! Communication the key.
Exactly!
Gotta’ remember that RIGHT of WAY in something that has to be GIVEN to you. You can’t automatically TAKE or ASSUME it. The consequences are too great.
Must remember to play PLAY NICE even if you are having a difficult day.
Aircraft already established in the pattern have the right away. Expecting them to alter their flight to accommodate your flight is arrogant. Two (2) final is not in the pattern yet. You should accommodate them to avoid if deemed a risk.
If the female was an instructor, she could have answered “Yes, I am the instructor”. Where’s the problem with that? Question asked and answered. Nobody needs to be offended.
The latest AC does not actually change anything with regard to the rules on straight in approaches. It should make pilots aware of the risks when doing this. As evidenced here, there are many pilots, even CFIs, with an attitude about those types of approaches. Some simply feel that if you are not in the pattern, you have now ROW and they will cut in front of you. This seems to be a “tribal” affair, as it happens more at some airports than others. And traffic volume does not seem to be the factor. I will do them at a nearby airport before the tower opens, and am always able to get numerous approaches in, and coordinate well with other traffic. I often do an approach opposite direction to departing aircraft, and we are easily able to coordinate safely. I would never do the same at an unfamiliar untowered airport. If you do not a have a nearby Delta to do approaches I sympathize.
The new FAA AC dated June 6th 2023 states in numerous places that the FAA does not recommend straight in approaches with aircraft in the pattern.
Add these problems to the mix.
1. The FAA does not require a radio at non towered airports
2. Pilots that make ground reports at NTA clog the unicom frequency.
3. Saying the n-number does nothing to identify aircraft at NTA
4. aircraft at NTA do not require ADS-B out or in.
5. Most mid-air accidents are at NTA in VFR conditions.
I recommend that all pilots read the new AC issued by FAA in the aftermath of the mid-air collision at at Winter Haven Airport in Florida….
These are my opinions and comments and I have been an active CFI for 54 years….
What changes should FAA do to fix the problems we have at non towered airports. Ask FAA at the next safety meeting in your area…
Thank You
Good dissertation on the FAA rules, sir, thank you. Unfortunately: there is a component of humanity which will flagrantly ignore the rules as a choke collar imposed by the establishment to which they thumb their nose. A cowboy mentality. This applies everywhere in society from street driving to residential construction, butting in line at McDonalds, etc. The list is endless. In whatever endeavor, by-and-large people obey the rules and live orderly peaceful lives. It’s the disrespectful idiots out there that endanger everyone else.
How to solve the problem? At an un-towered air strip with no official surveillance, incident reporting by the endangered pilot(s) would be a start. At towered airports, dragging the parties into an immediate meeting in the woodshed by officials to air-out the incident and make a determination of fault, and to discipline the offending party with fines, license suspension or both. How about a mandatory ‘driver ed’ program as we have in local traffic law enforcement to avoid fines and/or license suspension? Air traffic law enforcement needs ‘teeth’ to bring offenders to curb and make the skies safer for everybody. Just like Wyatt Erp did in the wild-wild West ages ago. While the cowboys were singing “Don’t fence me in” the fences eventually won out.
Regards/J
As a CFII I will coordinate with other aircraft in the pattern. Most other pilots understand that there’s instrument training going on at airports also, and 99% of the time it works out. However, when doing practice instrument approaches one should be prepared to go-around or break-out if there’s a conflicting situation, as well as other aircraft in the pattern. Extending downwind a few minutes allows the instrument approach to descend to minimums and get the approach completed.
AC 90-66 states that straight-ins don’t necessarily have priority but also states aircraft shouldn’t cut-off straight-in traffic either. There’s a lot of training going on at my home base and other airports as well. Communication I think can usually work out most situations. There’s always going to be that one pilot who doesn’t play nice however. Fly safe!
Ha ha ha ha! Talk about “expectation bias.” You said:
“I regret making a radio call asking “is there an instructor on board of your plane,” as I recall two voices in their pattern calls. The female voice says “yes.” I asked her, “Can you relay to your instructor how dangerous and close that turn inside our final was?”
The female voice could not have been an instructor? What if she was, wouldn’t that have been embarrassing?
IMHO, the precedent comm is good for nothing!
Why would the female being the CFI been embarrassing? It would have been an honest mistake. Nothing to be embarrassed by.
People in general are more aggressive since Covid. We see it in every single walk of our lives. There is NO place for it in aviation.