A Cessna Citation Sovereign pilot, climbing away from the runway looks up from the task of engaging the autopilot to find a Cessna 172 filling his windscreen. His exclamation - with the transmit button pressed - says it all: "Whoaa!"
Actually he said that more than that: the full story is here.
The event happened at Biggin Hill aerodrome, not far south-east of London, a busy general and business aviation airport. Both aircraft were cleared be the tower for what they were doing, the Citation taking off on runway 21 for a departure, the 172 approaching from the dead side to join the right hand visual circuit downwind. The visibility was good, visual flight rules applied, the circuit contained active traffic, so although the tower was providing clearances, separation was primarily the responsibility of the pilots.
The report on this event by the UK Airprox Board, in its summary, warns of the inherent risks of mixing high-performance and low-performance aircraft, and calls for a greater awareness of the risk.
Well, if events like this can happen, this is a timely reminder. But since when did pilots start thinking they could operate in a visual circuit and not take lookout seriously, no matter what kind of aircraft they are flying?
The Airprox Board said the cause was the failure of the tower to check with the Citation crew before issuing take-off clearance that they had the 172 in sight. Sure, that would be the ideal, but the 172 and a Robin in the circuit were talking to the tower, so it would be normal for the Citation crew to identify them before embarking on its high-performance take-off run.
It sounds like a reminder is needed. Maybe this Citation pilot had become too accustomed to big airports that don't have an active circuit and where the thinking is IFR even when they are technically operating to VFR.
on May 6, 2011 12:21 AM | Reply
I attained my Type-Rated, FAA ATP on a straight wing, unswept CE-500 Citation(Slowtation), non-EFIS,FAA ATP Certificate#2501696 in Van Nuys California on April 29 1998. Thankfully (for analogue-challenged me) EFIS upgraded at NATCO in KMSP to NWA B-744 C-suite on April 11 2001, phew !
As an airport, Van Nuys is more of a Farnborough, than Biggin Hill. But in Hollywood parlance, "same movie, different cinema, common language-divided".
But,as David L. illustrates, closing speed is relative and mined metal is kinetically static at worst, irrespective of licence held or registration painted.
On September 25 1978, PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, was downed approaching California's Lindbergh Field of San Diego. All 135 souls on board the PSA air ship perished, in addition to 7 on the ground along with both occupants of the C-172. Moral of the history lesson ?
If IFR in a VFR C-123/P-321 mode translates as, "I FOLLOW RAILWAYS", it is perhaps best ICAO-SARP to segregate business from pleasure to avoid tragic tearful misery, QED!... The PSA 182's F/O's CVR exclamation was "Arggh!" as it's right wing collided with the C-172. Still, nothing I like more than flying with a few friends in a C-172 off Ireland's Atlantic coast-Shamrock shore on a Summer's day,(I would say that, wouldn't I ?) most memorably on Air India's 10th anniversary of atrocity on June 23 1995 from EICK to EINN at an ambient 30C, that has not been exceeded since. Time flies, memory stands still, to bear witness to time. Time is humanity's irreplaceable commodity, that is squandered so foolishly with monotonous regularity. As human beings, we all fail in every way, every day. Thanks to the AAIB,AAIU,NTSB,BFU,BEA and etc, we shall all fail better in future.