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THEY TRIED TO KILL ME FOUR TIMES TODAY!
by Dale Brown, 2009

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT TheBigFiveOh.com Blog @ Yahoo.Com, Saturday 18 July 2009

Unfortunately I am not exaggerating: four persons unknown to me tried to kill me today. Fortunately, standard "see and avoid" techniques plus listening to the alarm bell going off in my head saved me.

I went flying this morning on a pilot proficiency flight. Weather was hot but clear and beautiful. I wanted to go in the morning to avoid the afternoon heat, winds, and rapidly developing cumulonimbus clouds.

Close call #1: One guy has called asking for landing information; someone directs him to the Automated Weather Observation System frequency. No other radio calls; the departure end is clear. I announce I'm taking Runway 27, the calm-wind runway (as published in the FAA Airfield Directory). Just as I cross the hold line, I see a plane turn onto on short final on the OPPOSITE runway! So I stop and wait for the surprise newcomer to taxi clear.

Lesson: uncontrolled airfield, SEE AND AVOID is key.

Close call #2: I take off and fly west over Lake Tahoe, then south to line up on the instrument approach into Minden. Uneventful approach and landing. I taxi back and get ready to take off again on Runway 34. As I announce taxing onto the active runway, a plane appears on Runway 30 completely unannounced and lands, crossing right in front of me. I did a radio check just to be sure my radios were working!

Repeat lesson: Uncontrolled airfield, SEE AND AVOID.

Close call #3: I take off from Minden to head back to Carson City, only to learn there has been an accident and the runway is closed (don't know what happened, but it COULD have been ME!). I head back to Minden, land, and have lunch. I learn about 2 hours later that the runway has reopened, so I load up and taxi out for takeoff on Runway 34. When I announce that I'm taking Runway 34 for takeoff, a glider comes out of nowhere and announces he is landing on the opposite runway! The glider then announces he's going to land on Runway 30R instead, which is a dirt strip that gliders normally use (glider landings are always controlled crashes, and the dirt is easier on the fiberglass fuselages).

Gliders landing on Runway 30R usually have no problems stopping clear of other runways, but as I watched this glider pilot wildly maneuver to land, the alarm bells went off--this guy is not right. So I decide not to taxi out but wait for him to land and stop. Sure enough, the glider pilot missed 30R, zoomed right across Runway 34, and landed on the side of a taxiway.

Lesson: when the alarm bell goes off in your head, stop what you're doing and find out why!

Close call #4: I take off and head north towards Carson City, announce my position, and enter the pattern. After I enter the downwind getting ready to turn base leg on Runway 27, some guy gets on the radio and says that Runway 27 is closed because the crashed plane is too close to the runway, but Runway 09 is open.

Now, if you do the math, you'll understand that Runway 27 and Runway 09 are the SAME runway--you're just landing in opposite directions, right? I briefly wondered how the SAME runway can be open in ONE direction but closed in the OTHER direction. Unfortunately, I didn't argue the point. The winds favored Runway 27, but I announced that I was landing on Runway 09.

Downwind landings (landings in which the winds are on your tail versus on your nose) are usually not advised unless the winds are low or the runway is long, and neither was the case here. What I SHOULD have done was go back to Minden or land on Runway 27. What I did was land on 09.

Fortunately, the landing was a squeaker--no problems. Even I was impressed. I guess I was ultra-aware about how dumb this was and was determined not to be another wrecked airplane on the side of the runway.

The kicker: as I was taxiing back to the hangar, another pilot complained to whoever had closed Runway 27--and the yay-hoo reopened Runway 27, not two minutes after I had landed on 09! If I had bitched about it I probably would've made a safer landing on the proper runway.

Lesson: don't assume that the "official" on the radio has any brains or any clue. Speak up! Question everything! If it didn't make any sense that the same runway was open in one direction but closed in the other, SPEAK UP!

I had to taxi around all the lookie-loos gawking at the crashed plane, trying not to get upset at these bozos parking on active airport taxiways like they're at a garage sale. I just wanted to park and get it over with.

Overall it was a good day of flying--challenging and frustrating, but still good. It was also a valuable reminder that not everyone up there is paying attention or following the rules. Never get complacent about flying...

...because one of those four assassins who took shots at me today could've hit the mark if I wasn't careful.

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