A C172 PILOT REPORTS CONFLICT WITH SOLO STUDENT PILOT FLYING AN INCORRECT CTAF VFR PATTERN WITH HIS RADIO INOP; BUT INSTRUCTOR VISUALLY MONITORING.

Date: 2007-03 · Aircraft: Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172 · Phase: approach

Anomalies: conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-other-unknown

Synopsis

A C172 PILOT REPORTS CONFLICT WITH SOLO STUDENT PILOT FLYING AN INCORRECT CTAF VFR PATTERN WITH HIS RADIO INOP; BUT INSTRUCTOR VISUALLY MONITORING.

Narrative

I FLEW INTO ZZZ AND AS I NEARED THE ARPT I OBTAINED WIND INFO FROM THE ASOS; WHICH GAVE THE WIND AS 120 DEGS AT 3 KTS. FLT GUIDE; AND LCL CONVENTION; DEFINE THE 'CALM WIND' (UNDER 6 KTS) RWY AS RWY 32. I SET UP FOR A MIDFIELD DOWNWIND FOR RWY 32. ON DOWNWIND; I SPOTTED ANOTHER ACFT THAT APPEARED TO BE SETTING UP FOR DOWNWIND APCH TO RWY 14. I CALLED ON THE CTAF TO ASCERTAIN HIS INTENT AND GOT NO REPLY. I MONITORED HIS ACFT POS AND HOPED HE WAS GOING TO FLY XWIND FOR RWY 32 AND FOLLOW ME. AS I ENTERED SHORT FINAL; I SAW HIM TURN BASE FOR RWY 14 AND HAD TO BREAK OFF MY APCH; OFFSETTING TO THE R. HE PROCEEDED TO DO A TOUCH-AND-GO; AND STILL HAD MADE NO RADIO CALLS. I WENT AROUND AND FLEW UPWIND; XWIND; DOWNWIND AND BASE TO FINAL FOR RWY 32 AGAIN AND MADE A SHORT APCH TO LNDG. AS I WAS TAXIING DOWN THE RWY TO THE EXIT INTXN; THE OTHER PLT ONCE AGAIN MADE AN APCH TO RWY 14. HE GOT WITHIN 300 FT OR LESS OF THE RWY BEFORE FINALLY SEEING MY ACFT ON THE RWY; AND HE PERFORMED A GAR. HE SUBSEQUENTLY LANDED. I SPOKE WITH HIM AND LEARNED HE WAS A STUDENT PLT OF 16 YRS OF AGE HIS INSTRUCTOR WAS INSIDE THE TERMINAL DURING THE STUDENT'S FLT. I ASKED IF HE HEARD ME ON THE RADIO; OR SAW ME IN THE PATTERN. HE REPLIED IN THE NEGATIVE TO BOTH. HE SAID MAYBE HIS RADIO DIDN'T WORK. I ASKED IF HE KNEW RWY 32 WAS THE CALM WIND RWY. HE DIDN'T SEEM TO KNOW THIS. AT THIS POINT I DEPARTED THE ARPT TO RETURN TO MY HOME FIELD. I SPOKE WITH A FSDO SPECIALIST WHO AGREED THIS WAS A POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SIT AND THAT THE STUDENT'S INSTRUCTOR SHOULD HAVE HAD HIM IN A PATTERN FAVORING THE CALM WIND RWY. AND ALTHOUGH THIS CONVENTION (RWY 32 BEING THE CALM WIND RWY) APPEARS IN FLT GUIDE; BUT NOT THE AFD; IT IS STILL A WELL-KNOWN LCL CONVENTION; AND IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY SHOULD BE FOLLOWED. I THINK SITS SUCH AS THIS ARE QUITE COMMON AT NON-CTLED AIRFIELDS; AND PLTS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT FLYING PATTERNS THAT CONFLICT WITH ACFT FOLLOWING LCL PRACTICE IS POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS.

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