PA28 STUDENT PLT ENCOUNTERS TURB IN TFC PATTERN ACTIVATING ONBOARD ELT. AFTER LNDG; WITH THE INTERFERING ELT ALARM; PLT CROSSES RWY WITHOUT CLRNC. ARPT VEHICLE INTERVENES; GUIDING ACFT TO FBO WHERE INCIDENT IS REVIEWED WITH SAFETY OFFICER AND INSTRUCTOR.
Synopsis
PA28 STUDENT PLT ENCOUNTERS TURB IN TFC PATTERN ACTIVATING ONBOARD ELT. AFTER LNDG; WITH THE INTERFERING ELT ALARM; PLT CROSSES RWY WITHOUT CLRNC. ARPT VEHICLE INTERVENES; GUIDING ACFT TO FBO WHERE INCIDENT IS REVIEWED WITH SAFETY OFFICER AND INSTRUCTOR.
Narrative
I AM A STUDENT PLT. I FLEW TO THE PRACTICE AREA FOR MANEUVERS; AND THEN I HEADED BACK TO THE ARPT WITH THE INTENTION OF PRACTICING TOUCH-AND-GO LNDGS. I RADIOED THE ARPT ON CTL TWR FREQ 126.00. I HAD JUST FINISHED MY DSCNT TO PATTERN ALT ON THE L DOWNWIND FOR RWY 27; WHEN I SUDDENLY ENCOUNTERED STRONG TURB. MY HEAD SLAMMED UP AGAINST THE CEILING; WHICH KNOCKED MY HEADSET PARTLY OFF. THIS OCCURRED EVEN THOUGH I HAD MY SHOULDER HARNESS AND LAP BELT FASTENED LOW AND TIGHT. I RECOVERED QUICKLY AND RESTORED THE PLANE TO STRAIGHT AND LEVEL FLT. THE TURB SUBSIDED. AT THAT POINT; I NOTICED AN EMER ALARM SOUNDING IN MY EARS. I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT THAT MY AIRPLANE'S ELT MUST HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED BY THE TURB. ALTHOUGH THE ALARM WAS LOUD AND INTERFERING; I WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN RADIO COMS WITH TWR. I RECEIVED LNDG INSTRUCTIONS. TWR COMS WERE BUSY; AND I DECIDED I SHOULD NOT TAKE TIME TO MAKE ANY COMMENT CONCERNING THE ELT. AFTER TOUCHDOWN; I EXITED RWY 27 AT THE VERY FIRST INTXN. I STOPPED THE AIRPLANE AND COMPLETED MY AFTER LNDG CHKLIST. THE ELT ALARM WAS SOUNDING MUCH LOUDER IN MY EARS AFTER I GOT ON THE GND; AND I COULD NOT SEEM TO HEAR ANY RADIO COMS. I DECIDED TO SWITCH TO GND CTL FREQ 121.70 HOPING THAT I COULD GET TAXI INSTRUCTIONS. THE ELT ALARM WAS EVEN LOUDER IN MY EARS. I MADE 2 XMISSIONS ATTEMPTING TO GET TAXI INSTRUCTIONS. I COULDN'T HEAR ANY COHERENT RESPONSES TO MY COMS OTHER THAN LOW STATIC RUMBLING AND AN OCCASIONAL BROKEN WORD OR TWO IN THE BACKGND. I DECIDED THAT THE SIT WAS UNSAFE; AND THAT I SHOULD TAKE SOME ACTION TO CLR THE AREA SAFELY. I BEGAN TO TAXI WHEN I HEARD SOME STATIC RUMBLING AND BROKEN WORDS UNDER THE ELT ALARM SOUND. I STOPPED THE ACFT AND XMITTED AGAIN ON 121.70; SAYING I WAS UNABLE TO COPY ANY VOICE XMISSION. I REALIZE NOW THAT I SHOULD NOT HAVE TAXIED WITHOUT CLRLY UNDERSTOOD INSTRUCTIONS. I ASSUMED THAT ANYONE ELSE WAS HEARING THE SAME LOUD ALARM I WAS HEARING; AND THAT THEY UNDERSTOOD MY AIRPLANE WAS THE SOURCE. I LOOKED UP AT THE TWR WINDOWS FOR A FEW MOMENTS; AND DECIDED ONCE AGAIN THAT THIS WAS AN EMER; THAT I SHOULD CLR THE AREA SAFELY AS I COULD. EVEN THOUGH I HAD BEEN TRAINED TO LOOK FOR LIGHT SIGNALS IN THE EVENT OF RADIO COMS FAILURE; I MISTAKENLY FAILED TO EQUATE THIS SIT WITH A 'RADIO OUT' SIT. I DIDN'T SEE ANY LIGHT SIGNALS; BUT I HAVE TO CONFESS THAT I ALSO FORGOT TO LOOK FOR THEM. I WAS CONCERNED THAT MY PRESENCE ON THE ARPT WITH AN ACTIVE ELT CONSTITUTED A DANGER TO OTHERS. THE MAIN THOUGHT IN MY MIND WAS THAT I SHOULD TAXI BACK TO THE FBO SO SOMEONE COULD DEACTIVATE THE XMITTER. I TAXIED TO THE HOLD SHORT LINE AT RWY 1/19 WHILE I LOOKED FOR TFC. I SAW NO TFC; SO I TAXIED ACROSS RWY 1/19 AND CONTINUED TOWARDS RWY 14/32. AT THAT POINT; AN ARPT SAFETY VEHICLE SUDDENLY APPEARED ON MY L WINGTIP WITH LIGHTS FLASHING. I ALSO HEARD THE FIRST CLR RADIO XMISSION SINCE I HAD LANDED; WITH A VOICE SAYING CLRLY ABOVE THE SOUND OF THE ELT ALARM 'STOP THE AIRPLANE!' THE SAFETY VEHICLE PULLED IN FRONT OF ME; WAVING WITH A GESTURE THAT SAID 'FOLLOW ME.' I FOLLOWED THE VEHICLE ACROSS RWY 14/32. AT POINT; THE VEHICLE GESTURED FOR ME TO CONTINUE TO THE FBO. I PARKED THE AIRPLANE; AND I WAS IMMEDIATELY JOINED BY A MECH; AS WELL AS THE ARPT SAFETY OFFICER. THE MECH VERIFIED THE ELT HAD BEEN ACTIVATED. THE SAFETY OFFICER ASKED ME TO DESCRIBE WHAT HAD HAPPENED. HE THEN ASKED ME TO GIVE TWR A PHONE CALL. MY FLT INSTRUCTOR SAID HE COULD SEE THE ELT LYING ON THE FLOOR. BACK IN THE FBO; MY FLT INSTRUCTOR CALLED TWR AND TALKED WITH THE CTLR. MY FLT INSTRUCTOR THEN SAID I HAD COMMITTED A RWY INCURSION AND GAVE ME THE PHONE. I WAS VERY SURPRISED TO BE TOLD THAT I HAD COMMITTED THIS VIOLATION. THE CTLR GAVE ME A STERN LECTURE. HE TOLD ME THAT I SHOULD HAVE TUNED MY RADIO BACK TO TWR FREQ 126.00; WHERE I MIGHT HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN GETTING TAXI INSTRUCTIONS; OR I SHOULD HAVE WAITED FOR LIGHT SIGNALS; OR FOR A SAFETY VEHICLE TO COME TO MY LOCATION ON THE TXWY. I SPENT MORE TIME TALKING WITH MY FLT INSTRUCTOR ABOUT WHATI SHOULD HAVE DONE TO DEAL WITH THE SIT SAFELY AND PROPERLY. I SHOULD HAVE REALIZED THAT THIS SIT CALLED FOR ME TO FOLLOW THE STANDARD 'RADIO OUT' PROCS I HAD BEEN TAUGHT FOR COMMUNICATING VIA LIGHT SIGNALS. I NOW UNDERSTAND THAT A SMALL AIRPLANE PARKED ON A WIDE TXWY DOES NOT CONSTITUTE NEARLY SO GREAT A DANGER AS THE SAME SMALL AIRPLANE IF IT TAXIES WITHOUT PROPER COMS AND CLRNC.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.