SMA PLT DESCRIBED GAR INCIDENT AT HWD DURING NIGHT OPS WHEN ARR MADE APCH TO WRONG PARALLEL RWY AND EXECUTED A GAR OVER REPORTER'S ACFT.

Date: 2007-11 · Aircraft: Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172 · Phase: landing

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|less-severe

Synopsis

SMA PLT DESCRIBED GAR INCIDENT AT HWD DURING NIGHT OPS WHEN ARR MADE APCH TO WRONG PARALLEL RWY AND EXECUTED A GAR OVER REPORTER'S ACFT.

Narrative

I WAS FLYING SOLO IN A C172. IN THE PATTERN FOR RWY 28L; DOING SEVERAL LNDGS TO REGAIN NIGHT CURRENCY FOR CARRYING PAX. I WAS IN CONTACT WITH THE HWD TWR AT ALL TIMES WHILE IN THE PATTERN. EACH TIME ON DOWNWIND IN THE PATTERN; I WOULD RECEIVE A CLRNC FROM THE TWR TO DO THE 'OPTION' APCH FOR RWY 28L. DURING ONE OF THE CIRCUITS IN THE PATTERN; I HEARD A CONQUEST I (TWIN TURBOPROP) CHK IN WITH THE TWR; STATING HE WAS APCHING THE ARPT FOR A LNDG. I DO NOT RECALL THE N-NUMBER OF THE CONQUEST. I RECALL THAT THE TWR GAVE THE CONQUEST A CLRNC TO LAND ON RWY 28R AND THAT THE AIRPLANE ACKNOWLEDGED THE CLRNC. DURING THE NEXT TURN TO BASE FOR THE LNDG ON RWY 28L; I DID NOT NOTICE LIGHTS FOR ANY OTHER AIRPLANE LINED UP FOR FINAL TO RWY 28L. THE LIGHTS OF THE CONQUEST MAY HAVE BEEN HIDDEN IN THE GND LIGHTS OF THE CONGESTED AREA AROUND HAYWARD ARPT OR IT MAY HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE SEVERAL LIGHTS OF AIRPLANES ON APCH TO THE OAKLAND (OAK) RWY 29; WHICH OVERFLY THE HAYWARD ARPT; BUT IN ANY CASE; I DID NOT NOTICE ANY AIRPLANES APCHING HWD RWY 28L. AFTER TOUCHING DOWN ON RWY 28L AND ROLLING TO A STOP (I WAS DOING A STOP-AND-GO); I HEARD THE CONQUEST ANNOUNCE TO THE TWR THAT HE WAS GOING AROUND. THE PLT ASKED THE TWR IF THERE WAS ANOTHER AIRPLANE ON THE RWY THAT HE WAS GOING AROUND. THE PLT ASKED THE TWR IF THERE WAS ANOTHER AIRPLANE ON THE RWY AND I RECALL THAT THE TWR SAID NO. A FEW MOMENTS LATER; THE CONQUEST PASSED OVERHEAD MY AIRPLANE AND STARTED A TURN TO THE R. I ESTIMATE THAT HE PASSED AT LEAST 200 FT ABOVE ME. IT WAS THEN CLR THAT THE CONQUEST HAD BEEN PLANNING TO LAND ON RWY 28L INSTEAD OF RWY 28R. IF HE HAD NOT GONE AROUND; IT IS LIKELY OUR AIRPLANES WOULD HAVE COLLIDED ON RWY 28L. DURING THE CONQUEST GAR; THE TWR CONFIRMED TO THE PLT THAT HE HAD BEEN CLRED TO LAND ON RWY 28R AND THE PLT ADMITTED THAT HE HAD HEARD IT AS RWY 28L; SINCE HE WAS EXPECTING TO LAND ON THAT RWY BECAUSE HE NEEDED THE LONGER RWY 28L RWY FOR HIS HIGHER PERFORMANCE AIRPLANE. THE TWR THEN CLRED THE CONQUEST TO DO A R DOWNWIND AND LAND ON RWY 28L AND CLRED ME TO FOLLOW THE CONQUEST FOR MY NEXT LNDG ON RWY 28L; WHICH I DID. ONE FACTOR IN THIS INCIDENT WAS THAT I DID NOT HAVE MY LNDG LIGHT ON DURING THE LNDG IN WHICH THE CONQUEST OVERFLEW ME. SINCE I WAS PRACTICING NIGHT LNDGS; I WANTED TO PRACTICE LNDG WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF A LNDG LIGHT; SO I TURNED IT OFF FOR THAT APCH. ALTHOUGH ALL THE OTHER LIGHTS ON MY AIRPLANE WERE ON (NAV LIGHTS; RED BEACON; AND WINGTIP STROBE LIGHTS); IF MY LNDG LIGHT HAD BEEN ON; THE CONQUEST PLT WOULD PROBABLY HAVE SEEN MY AIRPLANE ON THE RWY SOONER AND INITIATED A GAR EARLIER. I LEARNED A COUPLE OF THINGS FROM THIS INCIDENT. FIRST; I WILL BE MORE VIGILANT IN VERIFYING THAT OTHER AIRPLANES CLRED TO LAND ON A PARALLEL RWY ARE; IN FACT; LNDG ON THE PARALLEL AND NOT ON THE SAME RWY AS MY AIRPLANE. I WILL BE LOOKING CLOSER ON BASE LEG TO ASSURE THAT NO OTHER NEARBY AIRPLANES ARE ON A FINAL TO MY RWY. ALTHOUGH DIFFICULT IN A HIGH WING AIRPLANE; I WILL TRY TO LOOK OVER MY SHOULDER AND OUT THE REAR WINDOW TO ASSURE THAT NO OTHER AIRPLANES ARE CLOSELY FOLLOWING ME ON FINAL APCH. FINALLY; IN THE FUTURE I WILL PLAN TO KEEP THE LNDG LIGHT ON DURING NIGHT PRACTICE APCHS IF THERE ARE ANY OTHER AIRPLANES IN THE PATTERN TO ANY RWY AT THE ARPT.

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