ASRS Reports

The tower at KFNL is temporary and has no current access to radar but relies on visual observation from the ground level. Though radar has been installed, it has not been certified for almost a year now due to FAA-imposed Covid restrictions.

After we landed we listened to the live ATC recording of our flight and came to the conclusion that ATC misspoke and that the call to “make left traffic pattern at your discretion” was meant for a different aircraft.

I attempted to takeoff from the wrong runway at Charles M Schulz Sonoma County Airport (KSTS), at a known hot spot (Taxiway Hotel at Runway 20). This is a stupid mistake that “I would never make,” nonetheless, even after I made the mistake, I was not convinced that it happened, so much did I believe that I had lined up correctly.

After a difficult flight and a complicated landing, to think that negotiating the ground would be the most difficult part was stressful.

I feel the mechanic created this situation by not performing the overhaul in a timely manner. He would work for a few hours, leave the hangar and not get back to the job for days or weeks. This caused him to lose track as to where he was in the overhaul process, and consequently, miss a very important step.

Upon inspection of the runway a dead Prairie Dog was found in the vicinity of where I landed. It appears as though my right main tire struck the Prairie Dog, which caused me to veer to the right. There were no injuries.

I saw a high wing aircraft within 100 feet of me at the same altitude! He was so close I thought we were going to collide! I had little time to react and the aircraft passed within a few feet behind me. I pressed the PTT switch and said, “that was close!” to which the (presumably) pilot of the other aircraft responded, “was that on purpose?” I responded “of course not!”

We entered the pattern and got no gear down in the annunciator panel. I pointed this out to the owner and he said the gear is down and didn’t seem surprised. We verified this with a small window on the floor between the front seats.

I think he missed me by less than 20 feet. It was incredibly close. Then I rejoined final, and went around. As I went around I saw the offending 172 landing in front of me. I vehemently asked for an explanation, as I was very shaken by what had happened. The 172 pilot finally replied and stated: “This is an uncontrolled airport, I don’t have to make radio calls.”