Aviation Safety Reporting System

Even my skydivers said they had not seen a plane that close from the air before. I would estimate their aircraft was about 300-600 feet below my aircraft.

What I learned is simulator training with critical situations would be beneficial.

If I was threat why didn’t they tell me to stop as I went down Zulu?

I spotted him about 200 feet horizontally and 50 feet above me headed toward the airport. I took evasive action and broadcast on the CTAF that he said he was 10 miles west. He responded, “oh sorry, I guess it was 5 miles.”

As I was about to touch down, I heard one airplane say to another airplane, “Did you see that? That guy was crazy! He was only a couple hundred feet from me!”

I found out that an airport employee had given permission for an individual to drive his pickup truck out onto the active runway to look for a hubcap!

I watched in horror as the airplane turned left base directly into my student and I at the exact same altitude.

The truck continued to hold short all the way until our landing. After my student touched down and was taking out flaps and applying full power (we had rolled about halfway down the runway at this point), the black pickup truck drove across the runway right in front of us.

The new runway at Marion County Airport (X35) in Dunnellon, Florida, is likely to result in mid-air collisions.