CONFLICT BTWN AN AMERICAN AA1A FOLLOWING TOO CLOSE TO A C172 ON FINAL AND PASSING OVERHEAD DURING THE ACFT'S ROLLOUT.

Date: 1997-03 · Aircraft: Yankee AA1

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-other-unknown|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|other-unspecified

Synopsis

CONFLICT BTWN AN AMERICAN AA1A FOLLOWING TOO CLOSE TO A C172 ON FINAL AND PASSING OVERHEAD DURING THE ACFT'S ROLLOUT.

Narrative

AT THE WATSONVILLE; CA; ARPT; A LCL INSTRUCTOR FILED A COMPLAINT AGAINST ME IN THE ARPT'S 'COMPLAINT LOG.' I DID NOT TALK TO THAT INSTRUCTOR ABOUT THE EVENT; BUT WAS TOLD OF HER RPT BY ARPT STAFF WHO MET ME UPON LNDG. HERE ARE THE EVENTS WHICH LED TO HER RPT; AND THE CONCLUSIONS I DRAW. I INITIALLY APCHED THE ARPT IN MY AMERICAN AA1A FROM ROUGHLY S; MAKING A 45 DEG ENTRY TO A L DOWNWIND TO RWY 20. I MADE STANDARD TFC CALLS ON THE UNICOM FREQ. SEVERAL OTHER ACFT WERE IN THE PATTERN. I FLEW A STANDARD L-HAND PATTERN AND FLEW A LOW APCH; PASSING OVER THE RWY AT APPROX 400 FT AGL. I THEN CLBED BACK TO APPROX 1000 FT AGL; EXTENDING UPWIND BEYOND THE FREEWAY APPROX 1 MI BEYOND THE DEP END FOR NOISE ABATEMENT; AND ENTERING ANOTHER L-HAND PATTERN. AGAIN I MADE STANDARD TFC CALLS ON THE UNICOM FREQ. I WAS FOLLOWING A HIGH-WING ACFT WHICH WAS NOT BROADCASTING ON THE UNICOM FREQ. I LEARNED LATER THAT THE SILENT ACFT WAS THE ACFT CARRYING THE INSTRUCTOR WHO LATER FILED THE COMPLAINT. A HIGH-WING TAILDRAGGER WAS FOLLOWING ME IN THE PATTERN. AS I TURNED FINAL; THE HIGH-WING AHEAD OF ME WAS ON SHORT FINAL. I BROADCAST; 'WATSONVILLE TFC; GRUMMAN S TURNING ON FINAL FOR A LOW APCH; WATSONVILLE.' SHORTLY THEREAFTER; THE TAILDRAGGER BROADCAST HIS INTENTION ON RWY 26 DUE TO SOME PROB. I DIDN'T CATCH THE ENTIRE BROADCAST; BUT I WAS ABLE TO VISUALLY CONTACT THE TAILDRAGGER ON A CLOSE-IN L BASE FOR RWY 26. AT THAT POINT; THE HIGH-WING AHEAD HAD TOUCHED DOWN. RWY 26 INTERSECTS RWY 20 NEAR THE APCH END OF RWY 20 AND NEAR THE MIDPOINT OF RWY 26. BECAUSE MY S- TURNS PUT ME HEAD-ON TO THE TAILDRAGGER ON L BASE FOR RWY 26; I STOPPED S-TURNING AND RESUMED A STRAIGHT-IN FINAL APCH TO RWY 20. AS I WAS ON SHORT FINAL; THE TAILDRAGGER WAS OVER THE NUMBERS ON RWY 26. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO TELL WHETHER THE TAILDRAGGER WOULD HOLD SHORT OF RWY 20; BUT I WAS INTENDING ONLY A LOW APCH IN ANY CASE. AT THAT POINT; THE HIGH-WING AHEAD WAS STILL ROLLING ON RWY 20; BEYOND THE RWY 26 INTXN. I BROADCAST; 'WATSONVILLE; TFC; GRUMMAN ON FINAL FOR LOW APCH HAS THE ACFT LNDG RWY 26 IN SIGHT; AND THE ACFT ON RWY 20 IN SIGHT; WATSONVILLE.' AS I PASSED OVER THE THRESHOLD; I LOST SIGHT OF BOTH ACFT; WHICH BOTH STILL WERE ON THE RESPECTIVE RWYS AT THAT TIME. I HAD INTENDED TO FLY A VERY LOW APCH; BUT BECAUSE OF THE ACFT ON RWY 20 AND THE CONFLICT WITH THE ACFT ON RWY 26; I DETERMINED TO REMAIN RELATIVELY HIGH. I WAS CONCERNED THAT THE PLT OF THE ACFT ON RWY 20 WOULD BE ANNOYED BY MY OVERFLT; BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS THE SAFEST ACTION. I LEVELED AT APPROX 200 FT AGL AND FLEW DOWN THE RWY AT A LEVEL ALT; ACCELERATING FROM AN APCH SPD OF 70 MPH TO A CRUISE CLB SPD OF 105 MPH. I CLBED AGAIN TO 1000 FT AGL; AGAIN MAKING L TFC. AS I TURNED DOWNWIND; THE INSTRUCTOR IN THE HIGH-WING BROADCAST ON THE UNICOM FREQ; 'GRUMMAN; DON'T EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN.' THAT WAS THE FIRST BROADCAST I HAD HEARD FROM THAT ACFT DURING THE ENTIRE SEQUENCE. I DID NOT REPLY; AS I DIDN'T WANT TO CLUTTER THE UNICOM FREQ WITH PERSONAL CHATTER. I WAS VERY CONCERNED AND CONFUSED; BECAUSE I THOUGHT SHE WOULD HAVE SEEN THE NECESSITY OF MY ACTIONS; AND RECOGNIZED THAT I WAS; AFTER ALL; AT A SAFE ALT. I FLEW AROUND THE PATTERN AND MADE ANOTHER LOW APCH; THIS TIME ACCELERATING ALONG THE RWY AT VERY LOW ALT; PERHAPS 20 FT AGL. ON THIS PASS THERE WAS NO CONFLICTING TFC. I CLBED AGAIN TO 1000 FT AGL; FLEW L TFC; AND LANDED. SHORTLY AFTER I LANDED; ARPT STAFF APCHED ME AND TOLD ME THAT THEY HAD TO TAKE MY TAIL NUMBER FOR THE ARPT'S 'COMPLAINT LOG.' THEY SAID THAT THE INSTRUCTOR IN THE HIGH-WING ACFT HAD COMPLAINED THAT I FLEW OVER HER ACFT 'AT ABOUT 20 FT' AGL. I SCOFFED AT HER RPT; AS I KNEW I HAD BEEN PERHAPS TEN TIMES HIGHER. THE ARPT STAFF SPECULATED THAT PERHAPS THE INSTRUCTOR WOULD HAVE PREFERRED ME TO OFFSET TO THE SIDE OF THE RWY OR PASS HIGHER OVERHEAD; BUT I DON'T KNOW WHETHER THEY WERE RELAYING COMMENTS MADE BY THE INSTRUCTOR. I WAS VERY UPSET; ESPECIALLY BY HER EXAGGERATION OF THE EVENT; AND IN THE END ASKED THEARPT STAFF TO ADD MY PROTEST TO HER COMPLAINT; AND FURTHER TO FILE A COMPLAINT AGAINST THE INSTRUCTOR FOR NOT BROADCASTING ON THE UNICOM FREQ AND NOT CLRING THE RWY EXPEDITIOUSLY. THAT WAS A CHILDISH THING TO DO; AS IN FACT I DON'T THINK SHE WAS ON THE RWY ANY LONGER THAN NECESSARY. I WAS FOLLOWING CLOSELY TO BEGIN WITH; AND THE NECESSITY TO STOP S-TURNING PUT ME EVEN CLOSER; SO IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT SHE WAS UNABLE TO CLR THE RWY BEFORE MY ARR. I LEARNED SEVERAL THINGS FROM THIS EVENT. FIRST; I HAVE A TENDENCY TO FOLLOW OTHER ACFT AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE IN THE PATTERN. THIS IS BECAUSE MY ACFT HAS A MUCH HIGHER SINK RATE AT APCH SPD THAN OTHER LIGHT ACFT; SO I PREFER TO FLY A MUCH TIGHTER PATTERN IN GENERAL; FOR SAFETY. NORMALLY THIS CAUSES NO PROB BECAUSE I HAVE LEARNED TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE SPACING. BUT I KNOW THAT ADEQUATE SPACING CAN QUICKLY BECOME INADEQUATE IF SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS; SUCH AS THE TAILDRAGGER'S NEED TO LAND ON AN INTERSECTING RWY. I MUST INCREASE THE SPACING I MAINTAIN IN THE PATTERN OUT OF CONSIDERATION FOR OTHER PLTS' SENSIBILITIES; EVEN IF IT ENTAILS SOMEWHAT MORE RISK TO MY OWN FLT. SECOND; I HAVE LEARNED THAT I MUST GIVE EVEN GREATER LEEWAY TO OTHER PLTS WHEN JUDGING WHETHER AN ACTION IS SAFE AND APPROPRIATE. I CONSIDERED MY OVERFLT OF THE HIGH-WING TO BE QUITE SAFE; BUT THE OTHER PLT OBVIOUSLY WAS ALARMED BY IT. SHE MIGHT HAVE TAKEN MORE EXTREME ACTION; SUCH AS CLRING THE RWY INTO A TURF AREA; EXPOSING HER FLT TO GREATER RISK. I COULD HAVE AVOIDED ALARMING HER BY BEGINNING MY CLB TO PATTERN ALT SOONER; AS SOON AS I SAW THE CONFLICT ARISE; OR I COULD HAVE OFFSET TO ONE SIDE OF THE RWY.

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