CE560 CAPT ALMOST HIT A TWR ON A NIGHT VISUAL APCH TO RWY 31 AT RDG.

Date: 2000-12 · Aircraft: Citation V/Ultra/Encore (C560) · Phase: approach

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|less-severe|deviation-altitude-overshoot|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|ground-event-encounter-other-unknown|inflight-event-encounter-cftt-cfit|other-night-visual-apch

Synopsis

CE560 CAPT ALMOST HIT A TWR ON A NIGHT VISUAL APCH TO RWY 31 AT RDG.

Narrative

WE WERE ON AN IFR FLT PLAN FROM TEB TO RDG. AS WE APCHED RDG FROM THE NE AT 3000 FT; WE WERE CLRED BY RDG APCH FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 31. WE WERE ON APPROX A 130 DEG HDG SEARCHING FOR THE END OF RWY 31. WHEN WE PICKED OUT THE END OF RWY 31; WE WERE ABOUT 2-3 MI SE OF THE ARPT. WE THEN INITIATED A DSNDING R TURN TOWARD THE END OF RWY 31. AT THAT MOMENT; I HAPPENED TO LOOK OUT THE L WINDOW ONLY TO SEE A TWR DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE PLANE. AFTER GETTING ON THE GND AND LOOKING AT THE APCH PLATE; WE REALIZED WE HAD FAILED TO NOTICE 2 TOWERS THAT WERE AT 1300-1400 FT APPROX 3 MI E OF RDG. PLT ERROR CAUSED THE PROB AND A COUPLE OF SIMPLE ACTIONS WOULD HAVE ELIMINATED THE PROB: 1) MORE DILIGENCE BY THE CREW. 2)SHOULD HAVE ASKED FOR AN INST APCH BECAUSE BOTH PLTS WERE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE FIELD. 3) RECOGNITION THAT NIGHT FLYING UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES IS INHERENTLY MORE DANGEROUS THAN DAYTIME FLYING. 4) WARNING FROM RDG APCH ABOUT DANGEROUS TERRAIN. 5) PREDEP BRIEFING BY CREW OF DEST ARPT ABOUT EXPECTED APCHS AND MSA'S AND OBSTACLES IN OR NEAR THE ATA. WE HAD 1 OTHER DISTR. WE WERE QUICKLY OVERTAKING A SINGLE ENG CESSNA AND WE WERE LOOKING FOR THE TFC AND THE END OF THE RWY AT THE SAME TIME.

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