AN SMA LANDED AT A CLOSED ARPT.
Synopsis
AN SMA LANDED AT A CLOSED ARPT.
Narrative
OBTAINED WX AND NOTAMS BY DUATS IN WHITE CITY; NM; FOR FLT TO RKP INCLUDING E27; OZA; E29; UVA; COT; THX; RKP. ALSO FILED FLT PLAN BY DUATS AND OPENED FLT PLAN IN AIR WITH ALBUQUERQUE FSS VIA CARLSBAD REMOTE. WAS ON FLT FOLLOWING WITH ZAB AND FTW CTR AND MAYBE ZHU UNTIL WITHIN 15 MI OF UVA AND THE CTR KNEW I WAS LNDG UVA. I CALLED UVA UNICOM AND TA'S ON 122.8 MANY TIMES ON APCH AND GOT NO REPLIES. ON STRAIGHT IN APCH TO 15 SAW MANY SAILPLANES ON GND AND TOWPLANES TOWING AND LNDG. MADE UNEVENTFUL LNDG. AFTER LNDG; WAS INFORMED ARPT CLOSED BY NOTAM XA00- XC00 LCL. I HAD NO NOTAM ON THIS BY DUATS ALTHOUGH HAD OTHER NOTAMS INCLUDING CHANGED MISSED APCHS AT CRP ETC; ALSO WAS NOT ADVISED BY FSS ABQ; FSS SAN ANGELO; OR CTR CTLRS. FBO AND SAILPLANE CONTEST OFFICIALS SAID THEY DO NOT MONITOR CTAF BECAUSE ARPT CLOSED AND USE A DIFFERENT FREQ. THEY TOLD ME I SHOULD HAVE CALLED ARPT OR FSS BECAUSE THEY HAVE THESE EVENTS OFTEN. ATTITUDE OF CONTEST OFFICIALS WAS VERY NEGATIVE WHEN I SUGGESTED SOMEONE SHOULD MONITOR LCL CTAF. I FEEL NO FAULT AS NOTAM SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON DUATS AND WAS NOT AND I SHOULD HAVE BEEN WARNED BY CTR. THE SAME THING HAPPENED THE DAY BEFORE TO A BARON PLT WHO CAME IN ON AN INST FLT PLAN; HE DID NOT GET THE NOTAM EITHER. RECOMMEND -- MANDATORY MONITORING OF CTAF! IF I HAD BEEN IN A JET RATHER THAN A STOL 172; THE RESULTS MIGHT HAVE BEEN DISASTROUS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR IS RATHER NEW TO AVIATION HAVING SPENT A LONG TIME ON SAILBOATS AND PWR BOATS. HE WONDERS WHY THERE IS NO COMMON FREQ FOR AVIATION SUCH AS MARINE VHF CHANNEL 16 THAT EVERYONE IS EXPECTED TO MONITOR. HE BELIEVES THAT HE DID ALL THAT HE COULD DO TO GET THE NOTAM INFO. THE UVA FBO STATED THAT HE WOULD DO THE RPTR A FAVOR AND NOT RPT HIM TO THE FAA THIS TIME.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.