ENTERING THE RWY FOR TKOF; PLT OF M20 HAS CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH LNDG TWIN AFTER HE TRANSMITS HIS INTENTIONS ON THE WRONG CTAF FREQUENCY.

2008-06 · NASA ASRS report 790417

Date: 2008-06 · Aircraft: M-20 J (201) / Allegro · Phase: takeoff

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-less-severe|conflict-ground-conflict|critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|ground-incursion-runway

Synopsis

ENTERING THE RWY FOR TKOF; PLT OF M20 HAS CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH LNDG TWIN AFTER HE TRANSMITS HIS INTENTIONS ON THE WRONG CTAF FREQUENCY.

Narrative

AS OPERATOR OF MOONEY I TAXIED OUT TO DEP END OF RWY 32 AT STS TO USE RWY 32 SINCE WIND WAS 010 DEGS/11 KTS. I HAD NOTICED ANOTHER ACFT TAXIING TO RWY 14 AND WAS CONCERNED THAT ACFT WOULD BE TAKING OFF OPPOSITE MY DIRECTION. I ANNOUNCED MY INTENTIONS OVER RADIO TO TAXI RWY 32 AND I HEARD NO RESPONSES. WHILE TAXIING TO DEP END OF RWY 32; I DID NOT CHK CAREFULLY FOR ANY ACFT ARRIVING RWY 32 AND DID NOT NOTICE A TWIN ENG ACFT WAS ON FINAL APCH. INSTEAD I WAS FOCUSING ALL MY ATTN ON THE POS AND ACTIVITY OF THE ACFT AT THE RWY 14 END OF RWY 14/32. I QUICKLY COMPLETED MY PRETKOF CHKLIST; CHKED THAT THE OTHER ACFT AT RWY 14 WAS NOT ON THE RWY AND THEN ANNOUNCED MY INTENTION TO DEPART RWY 32. I LATER DISCOVERED (AFTER THE INCIDENT) THAT MY RADIO WAS SET TO 121.9 (NORMAL GND FREQ AT STS) AND NOT TO THE CORRECT CTAF OF 118.5. AT THIS POINT; I STARTED TO ACCELERATE ONTO THE DEP END OF RWY 32 INTENDING TO KEEP ROLLING ONTO MAIN PART OF RWY FOR MY TKOF. I FAILED (AGAIN) TO CHK FOR ACFT ARRIVING AT RWY 32 AND AS I ACCELERATED FROM SIDE OF RWY I SUDDENLY SAW THE KING AIR TWIN TOUCHING DOWN TO MY L AND IN FRONT OF ME. THE PLT OF THAT ACFT HAD HAD NO TIME TO REACT TO MY SUDDEN MOVE ON TO THE RWY; AND HAD NOT HEARD ME BECAUSE I WAS BROADCASTING ON THE WRONG FREQ ANYWAY. I VEERED SHARPLY TO THE R SIDE OF THIS 150 FT WIDE RWY AND WENT RIGHT OFF THE SIDE OF THE RWY ONTO TXWY Z WHICH IS ABOUT 200 FT FROM THE APCH END OF RWY 32. HOWEVER; IT WAS THE PLT OF THE KING AIR TWIN WHO MANAGED TO AVOID ME BY WHERE HE TOUCHED DOWN (ON THE CTRLINE); BEYOND WHERE I HAD COME ON TO THE RWY. AS I REVIEWED WHAT HAD HAPPENED I DISCOVERED THAT MY RADIO WAS NOT ON CTAF 118.5; WHICH IS ANOTHER REASON I WAS NOT AWARE OF THE ARRIVING ACFT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THIS NEAR ACCIDENT WERE MY FAILURE TO CHK AND RECHK FOR ACFT ARRIVING THE SAME RWY I WAS USING. I DID NOT CHK MY COM RADIO CAREFULLY ENOUGH. I SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST TALKED WITH THE OTHER AIRPLANE ON THE GND TO VERIFY PROPER OP OF MY RADIO. I WAS IN TOO MUCH OF A HURRY TO COMPLETE MY CHKLIST AND GET ON MY WAY AND THEREFORE INADVERTENTLY SKIPPED SOME KEY CHKLIST ITEMS (LOOK FOR TFC; CHK RADIOS). I WAS FIXATED ON THE OTHER ACFT ON THE GND TO THE EXTENT I DID NOT CONSIDER OR LOOK FOR ARRIVING ACFT. I WAS THINKING AHEAD ABOUT DOWNWIND DEP AND GETTING OUT BEFORE THE OTHER GUY AND NOT PAYING CLOSE ATTN TO THE IMMEDIATE SIT; CLRING MY AREA AND ENSURING NO OTHER PLANES LNDG. THANKFULLY; NO ACCIDENT OCCURRED; NO DAMAGE WAS DONE AND NO ONE WAS HURT. I LEARNED A VERY IMPORTANT LESSON TODAY AND WILL BE MORE CAREFUL TO COMPLETE CHKLIST AND TAKE MY TIME TO ENSURE I HAVE CHKED FOR TFC IN ALL DIRECTIONS BEFORE I MOVE ONTO A RWY.

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

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.