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.
There was an airplane at our airport which, in fact, has not been flown in over 20 years, doing engine checks and taxiing ops for a few hours.
There were three young guys working on it (not even sure if they are mechanics or pilots).
My coworker and I were closing up at our job and we were driving the fuel truck back to its parking spot and we noticed the plane started taking off. This is an unairworthy aircraft with no working radios, transponder, or ELT. Because it had been sitting for so long, it has grown mold and has corrosion all over the wings and fuselage.
On departure, we noticed it was not gaining much lift. He started a low crosswind turn and we noticed that he was losing altitude at a rapid rate. Luckily, he got wings level but he disappeared under the hangar line/trees so we no longer had a visual.
A few seconds later, we saw that he managed to get enough power to make it back to the runway. He had a really hard landing, which would have set off the ELT, but it does not work. He veered off the runway about 200 feet or so and got out of the plane with zero injuries, thankfully.
This airport is notorious for pilot stupidity/poor decisions. Had we had a tower, they would have been able to visually see that was not an airworthy aircraft and know it had not had any work done, knowing it had been collecting mold on the tie-downs, and that they had no working equipment.
Having a tower would make this field much more safe. Many reports have been made by many other people and myself, yet it seems like nothing is ever done about it. I can only do my part though and try to make a difference by myself.
Primary Problem: Aircraft
ACN: 2106465
An operating control. Tower doesn’t stop operation foolish and illegal operation.
The problem was and always will be ” stupid people tricks”.
To echo another poster: The would be pilot is a Darwin Award candidate.
It’s very likely that this is exactly what the writer seems to perceive, unqualified people attempting to fly an unsafe airplane, and the outcome of the flight would seem to support this.
However, the three young people may have been properly qualified, and may have had a special flight permit and determined that the plane was in compliance with necessary ADs and safe for the intended flight. I wouldn’t bet a penny on this latter possibility, but I have seen some pretty sketchy stuff, done legally and unwisely under the auspices of a “ferry permit.”
Either way, the presence of a control tower would not have mattered.
One could rat them out to the Feds after the fact, I guess, but talking to them beforehand to find out what’s happening and ensuring that they know that the beast is in the twenty-year derelict club would have been a better course of action than doing nothing and then complaining about these events later.
I don’t see how someone in a tower would be able to determine airworthiness.
Once a brainiac supervisor at People’s Express decided he needed to do a high speed taxi to check anti skid on a B-727 at Newark. He was alone and requested to use the runway to do his taxi. Tower approved it, they had no idea who or how many people were in the cockpit. Of course the plane got airborne then promptly went into the weeds.
We in overhaul got to fix the plane.
We only get one side of the story here and there are a few things in this story that make me wonder on the knowledge of this event. How would a bystander know if an ELT works? A radio works? Maybe someone told them, did they know or was it a guess.
No, a Control Tower would not help in this case.
I can’t see how this particular report is of much value based on information provided. Real information (not my buddy told me), then a conversation with FSDO is the proper way to go.
Airplanes fly everyday without radios, transponders, etc. Those items do not make airplanes “airworthy”.
What does make them airworthy is a functioning brain in the pilot.
Based on the writer’s ‘vernacular’, it seems pretty clear that he/she is not a pilot or an A&P….but rather just someone concerned enough about what they see happening to want to highlight it. They may not know the best way to go about it…but at least they tried.
I wonder how many pilots saw, or were at least aware of this activity, and looked the other way?
Anyone can file an ASRS report. Whether it is ultimately “effective” or not, I applaud them for the effort.
In this situation a tower would have no authority to stop what was perceived to be an unworthy Aircraft. They could have strongly suggested it, but they could not have stopped it.
I don’t buy line techs determining airworthiness any more than I buy ATC determining it. There are too many assumptions cooked into this report to make it of any use to anyone.
Almost makes you think some people get paid to be that stupid.
Guy here at our local airport has an ultralight, two stroke engine, basically a lawn chair with delusions of grandeur. He says to me “Wanna fly it?” I’m thinking, hmm, no maintenance, no idea of stall speed, no experience in ultralights, no idea how to preflight this thing (sitting down in it does NOT constitute a preflight), so I said “Pass.”
Two days later I see it sitting sans propeller. Turns out one of the many wires holding this thing together came off and got tangled in the prop, destroying it. Luckily for the owner, he was only taxiing out to go fly. Three minutes later he would have been airborne and S.O.L.
I’m sure if I had been in that when the wire broke, it would obviously have been entirely my fault and he’d expect me (or my estate) to pay for his deathtrap.
Remember, Darwin is alive and well, and he is watching . . .
ASRS is not the place to report this. Call or visit the local FSDO (flight standards district office) or send a letter to them and they can investigate (if they chose to). Include the aircraft N number and time, place, etc. that’s about all you can or should do.
“Many reports”? To whom? Unless the reporting is done to the FAA FSDO, nothing will happen. And a tower won’t make any difference.
“This is an unairworthy aircraft with no working radios, transponder, or ELT.” So Part 103 ultralights are all unairworthy? Or the nice 1946 Piper Cub I used to fly, with no electrical system? ELTs are obsolete. It is not the responsibility of tower personnel to check on the condition of aircraft based there. That would be the aircraft owner and perhaps the owner of the hangar or tie down. Ultimately however you can’t fix stupid, which exists both at towered and untowered airports.
Correct the tower is not liable nor is it their responsibility to determine the airworthiness of the aircraft.
It’s clear this “pilot” is not educated on what is or is not required for flight. A radio does not determine if an aircraft is airworthy, how does this pilot know that hard landing should have triggered the ELT. The tower, the lines person, or other pilots do not know if it’s airworthy. Given that it sat and was being worked on, how do they know if they had a special flight permit aka ferry permit, happens all the time.
And your point of not activating an ELT on an aircraft setting on the runway is or accomplishments…..?
If I remember correctly ELT isn’t required for local flights. And at a towered airport the guy may have had a handheld radio, which changes nothing.
After 50 years in aviation, this is the oldest story I know. Change the airplane model, change the airport location, change the people involved and when it happened. And I’ve heard it over and over again.
And I agree, a tower wouldn’t have prevented the flight. At best the tower operator can only advise the pilot on what they see.
No, having an ATCT would likely not have prevented the flight.