2025-06 · NASA ASRS report 2256409
Pilot reported taxiing on to the runway and taking off in front of an aircraft on final approach that was forced to execute a go-around to avoid a collision.
I was departing runway XX and did not see the Cherokee (N number unknown) on final approach. I do not have an electrical system or radio to monitor. As always; prior to entering the runway (at my home base ZZZ) I looked for traffic on downwind; base or final and either had aircraft structure obscuring the Cherokee (J-3 solo rear seat only) or the Cherokee was obscured by trees at the arrival end or unknown other reason. After lift off I noticed a shadow to my right and in parallel. It was at that moment I knew a landing aircraft had executed a proper go around. Once visible to my 2 o'clock position I recognized it as a Cherokee ; while it was climbing on the upwind. After securing my J-3 I went over to the school; to apologize; left my cell number for the instructor to call me for a debrief; and complimented; to the representative the instructor/student did an excellent job of risk mitigation. Lesson learned: look more than once prior to entering the runway at a busy uncontrolled airport.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.