TFC CONFLICT AT A NON TOWERED ARPT WITH MARGINAL WX CONDITIONS AND CONSIDERABLE TFC CONGESTION

Narrative

AFTER TAXIING AWAY FROM THE RAMP AREA; WE COMPLETED OUR TAXI CHKLIST AND CONTINUED OUR TAXI TO RWY 35 AT MONTROSE; CO. AS I LISTENED TO UNICOM FOR LOCAL AREA TFC ON VHF RADIO #1; THE FO OBTAINED OUR CLRNC (IFR) ON THE VHF #2 RADIO. WE WERE ABOUT NUMBER 3 FOR TKOF ON RWY 35. WHILE 2 OTHER ACFT DEPARTED TO THE NW; I HEARD A CESSNA REPORT ON UNICOM THAT HE WAS OVERHEAD THE MTJ VOR AT 10500 FT VFR AND STATE INTENTIONS TO LAND RWY 17 AT MTJ. DENVER CENTER THEN RELEASED US TO DEPART AND CALL AIRBORNE. WE ANNOUNCED ON UNICOM THAT WE WERE TAKING THE ACTIVE RWY 35; WE CLRED THE FINAL AND I TAXIED THE ACFT INTO POS IN A TIMELY FASHION IN ORDER TO DEPART BEFORE THE CESSNA DESCENDED FROM ALTITUDE AND REPORTED FOR RWY 17. AS I TAXIED INTO POS AND ALIGNED THE ACFT WITH THE CENTERLINE; A SMALL ACFT APPEARING TO BE A CESSNA TYPE (SINGLE-ENGINE) AND SIZE COMPATIBLE WITH A (CENTURION) FLEW OVERHEAD DOWN RWY 35 AT ABOUT 150 FT OVER THE TOP OF OUR ACFT. ITS FLAPS AND LNDG GEAR WERE DOWN AND APPEARED TO BE IN FULL LNDG CONFIGURATION. THE CESSNA THEN CONTINUED DOWN THE RWY WITHOUT TOUCHING DOWN AND APPEARED TO EXECUTE A GAR AND DEPARTED TO THE NW. WE MAINTAINED VISUAL CONTACT FOR SEVERAL MINUTES UNTIL THE CESSNA MADE A LEFT TURN OUT AND CLIMBED TO WHAT APPEARED A RETURN TO LAND FROM A LEFT DOWNWIND PATTERN. NO CALLS FROM THE CESSNA WERE HEARD ON OUR RADIO AFTER I HEARD HIS INITIAL CALL OVER THE VOR AT 10500 FT AND LNDG RWY 17. NO CALLS WERE HEARD AS HE FLEW DOWN RWY 35 AND CLIMBED BACK TO A LEFT DOWNWIND. ONCE WE WERE ASSURED OF SAFE SEPARATION FROM ANY FURTHER TFC WE ANNOUNCED OUR DEP ON UNICOM AND TOOK OFF ON RWY 35 AND CALLED DENVER CENTER AIRBORNE AND WERE SOON IN RADAR CONTACT. THERE WERE OTHER ACFT NEAR THE ARPT AT THE TIME AWAITING APPROACH CLEARANCES FROM DENVER CENTER. THE CENTER WAS ATTEMPTING TO GET US AIRBORNE EXPEDITIOUSLY. THE WX HAD BEEN IFR JUST BEFORE DEPARTING WITH REDUCED VISIBILITIES IN SNOW SHOWERS. THIS WAS A SATURDAY MORNING AND THE UNICOM SEEMED TO BE BUSY WITH A LOT OF ACFT DEPARTING/ARRIVING AND SOME EVEN CALLED DENVER CENTER TO DIVERT AS THE WX WAS UP AND DOWN CONTINUOUSLY. WE NEED TO ESPECIALLY BE VIGILANT WHEN OPERATING AT A NON-TOWERED ENVIRONMENT. WE AS PLTS ALSO NEED TO STATE OUR INTENTIONS REPEATEDLY AND PRECISELY WHEN USING NON-CONTROLLED ARPTS. WE CLRED THE FINAL; BUT NEVER SAW THIS ACFT APCH RWY 35; ESPECIALLY AS WE EXPECTED HIM TO LAND ON RWY 17! CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE WX HAD SNOW SHOWERS PASSING THROUGH THE AREA WHICH MADE BOTH VFR AND IFR FLT POSSIBLE. IT WAS A SATURDAY AND TFC WAS HEAVY WITH BOTH RWYS IN USE FOR DEP AND INSTRUMENT ARRS WERE USING THE ILS TO RWY 17. THE CHOICE TO DEPART RWY 35 WAS BASED ON PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS AND TERRAIN AVOIDANCE PROCEDURES AFTER TKOF. WHEN CLRING FOR TFC APCHING RWY 35; CLOUDS AND SUN POSITION TO THE S MAY HAVE PREVENTED THE SIGHTING OF ACFT Y. THE FO; WHO WAS WORKING CENTER ON ANOTHER RADIO; DID ALSO TAKE A BREAK FROM COM DUTIES TO LOOK FOR TFC AS THEY APCHED THE RWY. THE TIME FROM THE CTAF REPORT OF ACFT Y OVER THE VOR TO THE TIME HE PASSED OVER THE RPTR'S ACFT WAS NO MORE THAN 5 MINS. NO OTHER POS RPTS WERE HEARD AFTER THE INITIAL RPT. THE CTAF FREQ WAS MONITORED THE ENTIRE TIME.