Near miss at Ardmore yesterday

[ZK-KAG]

Hey,

Thought Id share what I heard and saw at Ardmore yesterday...

"Ardmore Traffic, Unicom, Caution High Speed twin entering downwind, remain clear until landed"

"Ardmore Traffic, OAT Waterworks for fullstop 21" (for those who dont know, waterworks is a reporting point, but is basically the corner of downwind and base)

"AR Traffic Christian 1Y, Aerostar Twin Downwind 21"

Next thing I see the Aerostar climbing at a riduculous rate and over the radio comes...

"AR Unicom, Aerostar taking evasive action.."

All settles down and the twin ends up making a 3nm finals, with OAT on the grass. Now in the AIP it says that when a twin is in the circuit all other acft make way for it, now OAT clearly did not and was told to Phone Unicom when they were finished (the dreaded 'phone me' that no pilot at AR wants to hear), as was Christian 1Y for a report to be filed to the CAA. Its common sense really that when a plane is bearing down on you you would get out the way!!???

~ZK-KAG~

[Charl]

OK...what was OAT supposed to do then, go missed?

[ZK-KAG]

OAT was joining in the base leg coming from Hunua, so after the Caution call from Unicom, OAT should have orbited over Waterworks or done on overhead rejoin..

Once it got to finals, it was ok as Aerostar was on the sealed and OAT was on the grass.

[ZK-KAG]

This is a separate incident, but on Friday evening at around 7.00pm. A solo pilot took off on the ex runway 25 (now taxiway Juliet) and crossed the active runway 21 and missed a plane landing by something like 5 metres. The plane landing did not have enough speed or height to go-around, and there was nearly a serious accident.

The two planes involved were FJB (Eagle Flight Training) and an Ardmore Flying School Cessna.

The aerodrome was unattended however there were many witnesses and a thorough CAA Form # 5 has been filed. It is expected that the pilot that took off on the wrong runway will lose his license as this is not the first incident to his name and he has a few 'black dots' to his name. Towerguy will know what im on about. He is of a middle-eastern origin.

[BerG]

Haha, yeah taking off on taxiways doesnt look to good on the old file :/

[ardypilot]

A solo pilot took off on the ex runway 25 (now taxiway Juliet) and crossed the active runway 21 and missed a plane landing by something like 5 metres. The plane landing did not have enough speed or height to go-around, and there was nearly a serious accident.

Crikey!

[FlyingKiwi]

Wow, taking off on the that disused runway/taxiway is a pretty major no-no, not to mention extremely unsafe; if he has a history of "rule breaking" like you said I would hope he does lose his license...

[ZK-KAG]

taking off on the that disused runway/taxiway is a pretty major no-no

Yeah.. I also cant see how you can make that mistake as its clearly marked with white crosses along the "centreline". Not to mention the fact that its in such a bad state of repair anyway...

[Dreamweaver]

Just wondering should this kind of thing be discussed if a CAA investigation is underway? Unless its been reported by the media which would make speculation to the incident more likely.

[ZK-Brock]

Why does Ardmore not have a tower, and only manned Unicom? Surely a tower would increase safety...

[ZK-KAG]

Just wondering should this kind of thing be discussed if a CAA investigation is underway? Unless its been reported by the media which would make speculation to the incident more likely.

I cant see why not, as what Ive said here is directly from someone who saw the event first hand (they were on the base leg). I dont really see the harm in just chatting here, as Im just telling what I heard...

Why does Ardmore not have a tower, and only manned Unicom? Surely a tower would increase safety...

One would think, but as soon as this runway 25 was disestablished, the need for one decreased. Also when the Aerodrome went private, there wasnt the funds to keep it going.

[Zöltuger]

i imagine there would be a big hike in landing fees if there was a tower

[ZK-Brock]

Yeah, but what is the price of safety? Perhaps they could call on NZFF to get some ATC going! Me, Alex, Craig and Jimmy could start our own little tower!

[ZK-Brock]

Also Keagan, be careful about posting stuff you hear on the radio. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to publicise the details any actual accident heard on the radio, though I'll have to check my air law book.

[ZK-KAG]

Also Keagan, be careful about posting stuff you hear on the radio. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to publicise the details any actual accident heard on the radio, though I'll have to check my air law book.

Wow, OK, well if that is the case then I wont, but I sure havnt heard about this..

As for what I heard above in my first post.. there was no 'incident' as such, as nothing ever came of it. But yeah cool if you could check that up monkey that would be good.

[BerG]

Yeah it's illegal to talk to the media about what you heard on the radio if an accident occured.

[towerguy]

why no tower at AR - used to be but users don"t want to

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

same is currently going on at Taupo

[ZK-Brock]

why no tower at AR - used to be but users don"t want to

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

same is currently going on at Taupo

I'd do it on the cheap! Its better than getting $15 a day to pick berries...