Glider pilot landing on a grass strip; at a non-towered airport; reported a critical ground conflict with a vehicle that had crossed the grass runway and parked parallel facing in the departure direction.
Synopsis
Glider pilot landing on a grass strip; at a non-towered airport; reported a critical ground conflict with a vehicle that had crossed the grass runway and parked parallel facing in the departure direction.
Narrative
As I was flaring the glider to touchdown; a car entered the runway in the touchdown zone and I had to take evasive action to miss the moving vehicle. While on left base to land runway XX I observed a car transiting from the airport ramp over the grass median; over the paved runway XX; over the grass runway; and to the glider staging area. The car came to a stop in the glider staging area adjacent to the touchdown zone of the grass runway. The car did not announce on the CTAF that it was entering or exiting the runway area. The car was positioned parallel to the runway with the car facing away from the approach end of the runway. The car remained stationary for the next few seconds as I continued my final approach. As I entered the flare to the land; the car started to move and turned right; onto the grass runway moving perpendicular across the runway. Again; the car did not announce it was entering the runway area. The glider was at the same altitude as the car and had little remaining potential energy. I closed the spoilers; initiated a slight bank to the right; raising the glider's left wing so it would not impact the vehicle. Once I cleared the vehicle; I re-aligned the glider with the runway; landed; and came to a complete stop. There was no damage to the glider or airport property. After landing; I observed the car completing its transition across the grass runway and paved runway and returned to the airport ramp. The car did not report clear of the runway.After the incident I was able to track down the driver to confront them. The driver admitted what had happened and offered that they 'owed me an apology' and also explained that they were dealing with another urgent situation at the time they entered the runway and they were distracted by that situation. In retrospect the original urgent situation would have been very minor compared to a collision on a runway; which the driver almost caused. While I believe there are a number of operational improvements that can be made to reduce the likely hood of this situation in the future; I believe the most immediate takeaway is that the driver allowed themselves to be distracted and almost made a bad situation much worse. A distracted driver in a moving motor vehicle on a runway is very dangerous combination.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.