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.
I followed the wrong landing traffic. I was told No. 2 cleared to land behind a Embraer Phenom 100.
I did not know what a Phenom was and turned final to land number two behind a single-engine aircraft that was touching down.
I was high on final as I was doing a practice LOC XX circle to XY at 660 foot minimums. Phenom passed about 200 to 300 feet below me as the traffic I was supposed to follow.
I think this could be avoided by clarifying what kind of aircraft it is, such as “jet” or “Cessna.”
In the future I, as well as other pilots, should ask for clarification if they do not know for sure what their clearance limit is or if they are unsure, especially on a busy day.
Primary Problem: Human Factors
ACN: 2084027
I’ve always been somewhat geeky about identifying different airplanes, but I’ve noticed that many experienced pilots can’t identify any particular airplane beyond high wing, low wing, single, twin. So for me, it’s not an issue if a controller uses the brand name, but if a pilot isn’t sure, ask!
Sounds familiar. A sequence is given to land number two – the pilot sees an aircraft at or very near the threshold and thinks that is the traffic to follow when in reality the aircraft to follow is on a one-mile final. I’m not sure how ATC guidelines are written, but from seeing similar scenarios, the aircraft close in and about to land seems to be considered out of the sequence to ATC but to the pilot is the traffic to follow.
What’s missing is any position information. Hopefully the controller did mention the Phenom’s position as for example a mile final. Even when that is included, pilots tend to see the aircraft at the threshold and assume that is the called traffic, and then turn in front of the aircraft still approaching.
Careful verification of the correct aircraft to follow is critical. When the pilot spots the aircraft he/she believes he/she should follow, add a qualifier – for example, traffic in sight over the numbers. If that isn’t the right one, the controller can reply negative, stay on the downwind, your traffic is at your 10 o’clock.
This has been an ongoing argument for over 20 years from when I started flying.
Could that Phenom have been an experimental?
Cessna 700Q follow the starship.
Uh, Am I supposed to be looking for something like the Enterprise? [Star Trek, the old foggies]
There are not that many Beech Starships. It’s a twin engine pusher, not to be confused with the Italian twin engine pusher — Quik, what’s it called?
So a pilot with maybe 150 hours knows a Seminole, but what is a 310?
Controllers get familiar with the aircraft they see…. And so they assume any plane coming in is going to know what a Pilatus is.
Just say’n’.