What happened
An accident occurred at a non-towered airport when a single-engine airplane and a multi-engine business jet occupied the same area of the airfield. The single-engine aircraft was performing a takeoff from runway 15 for a local flight. Simultaneously, the business jet was completing a straight-in visual approach and landing on runway 22, which sits at a nearly perpendicular angle to the first runway.
As the two aircraft progressed, the single-engine plane struck the empennage of the jet at the point where the two runways intersect. Prior to the impact, the pilot of the single-engine aircraft had broadcast via the UNICOM frequency that the plane was back-taxiing on the runway. However, the pilot of the jet did not report any radio communications, and a review of the jet's cockpit voice recorder showed no radio activity on that frequency.
Findings
Several environmental and operational factors contributed to the collision. While the airport featured signage warning that traffic on the intersecting runway might be obscured, a visibility assessment confirmed that sightlines between the two runways were indeed limited. At the time of the incident, the weather consisted of clear skies but featured haze that reduced visibility to 4 miles.
Both aircraft were painted white, which may have further complicated visual acquisition. Although the business jet was equipped with a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), the pilot stated that the system did not indicate any conflicting traffic during the final approach. It remains undetermined if the pilots could have seen one another due to the combination of the perpendicular runway geometry, the haze, and the similar color of the aircraft.