C172 Flight Instructor with student performing touch and go landings at an airport after Tower operating hours reported a PA28 departed opposite direction as they were touching down.

Date: 2024-04 · Aircraft: Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172 · Phase: landing

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|ground-incursion-runway

Synopsis

C172 Flight Instructor with student performing touch and go landings at an airport after Tower operating hours reported a PA28 departed opposite direction as they were touching down.

Narrative

My student and I were conducting night training at ZZZ. We flew from ZZZ to ZZZ1 for touch-and-goes and then returned to ZZZ to finish the rest of our touch-and-goes. We entered the traffic pattern at ZZZ and were on our third touch-and-go for Runway XX and as we were in our landing roll we noticed a red light at the end of the runway. We were talking on Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) and communicated with a mower who was out late mowing grass in the area of Runway XY. Initially I thought it was the mower but then after we added full power and retracted the flaps we saw the lights transition from red to bright white lights. What we realized at that time was that those white lights were landing and taxi lights from an aircraft pulling onto Runway XZ. Once the realization set in that an aircraft was taking the opposite runway with not a single traffic call made we decided to rotate since at the speed we were at it seemed safer to rotate and offset the runway slightly rather than apply the brakes and potentially collide with an aircraft on their takeoff roll. As we rotated we could see the Aircraft Y quickly pivot in a 180 degree turn and immediately vacated Runway XZ via [Taxiway] 1. We realized this since we saw lights go from bright white to green (located on the right wingtip. After that we made a stern call that we were in the upwind for Runway XX to get that pilots attention and did not hear any transmission back. Due to this I figured it could have been a NORDO aircraft situation. As we continued in the traffic pattern to come back in to make a full stop landing and terminate we heard that aircraft make a call that they were taxiing to Runway XX via A. Because of this I believe that his radio was operational. The cause of this reckless and careless behavior was due to gross negligence by the operator of Aircraft Y. We had made traffic calls as outlined by the AIM and AC 90-66C. We also communicated with a mower as we entered the pattern and we communicated with another aircraft that entered the pattern as we landed. Because of this I do not think there was any issues with our radio. We should have heard him make CTAF calls and he should have heard ours. Since there were no transmissions heard from Aircraft Y I believe he did not make any calls on CTAF. He then pulled onto the runway that was opposite the winds broadcasted over the ASOS frequency. Winds were reported 300 @ 06 knots as we entered the traffic pattern. If he visually checked the traffic pattern; he should have seen a brightly illuminated Cessna coming into land. As he took the runway we were just about to touchdown and should have been very clearly visible. This all tells me that he took an opposite runway at night while making no traffic calls on CTAF without ever looking outside and visually clearing the field. All of these actions are extremely unsafe and could have resulted in a collision if the aircraft had pulled out onto the runway slightly later or if we had a longer landing roll. That same night there were multiple regionals inbound that landed Runway XX and the pilot of Aircraft Y could have put many lives at risk instead of just my student and I.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.