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 was in the pattern with a student with four other aircraft. On our first approach to land, I instructed the student to demonstrate a go-around. On our departure leg, I was aware of a Citation jet landing behind us and a Skyhawk extending its left downwind for the Citation traffic.
The pattern was standard until the downwind. On downwind and abeam the runway threshold the Skyhawk was still on short final, so I instructed my student to postpone configuring for landing until abeam the aircraft.
Once abeam the aircraft on final, we began our descent, turned base, then final and landed from a standard pattern with standard radio calls for each turn.
Upon landing, it was communicated to me that there was an additional aircraft that was on an extended final for the runway that I did not realize was there.
Neither my student nor I noted a radio communication from the conflicting aircraft indicating their position on final, however, it is possible the call was missed by me or stepped on.
I looked for traffic towards the north and west before turning base and did not see traffic. I was dividing my attention between traffic awareness and instructing my student on his traffic pattern and landing.
I believe the aircraft was below our position and to our north when we turned base.
On final, I still did not see any traffic, but it is likely the conflicting aircraft was directly below us. The aircraft executed a 360 turn towards the north away from our position before re-entering the final approach. In addition to not seeing the traffic, the traffic did not appear on ADS-B.
Going forward, I will prevent this situation from happening by utilizing a more thorough visual scan for traffic. I will also be sure to maintain better situational awareness of traffic in the pattern by prioritizing an accurate mental model of the traffic pattern before executing any turns to base and final.
Primary Problem: Human Factors
ACN: 2144157
Also, remember…. you may have not missed the radio call at all….. it could be an aircraft with no electrical system or radio onboard. Always gotta keep that head on a swivel, even with a good mental picture of the radio call out positions.
Nicely written, good plan for mitigating future conflicts.