HomeMy WebLinkAbout02 23 1990 Don't Blame Runway in Spate of Plane CrashesFriday, February 23, 1990, Vero Beach, Fta., Pres"ournal bA
Don't Blame Runway
It was unfortunate and sad that
ing, wind conditions. Most Prevail -
two recent airplane accidents had
ing winds in this area of Florida
to occur at the Sebastian Airport. I
are either southeasterly or .north -
don't have to.go_ into details as to
westerly, making runway 13/31 a
how many local residents feel
very important runway ,for into -
'about the airport. I am wondering,
the -wind landings and talteoffs.
though, if city officials are getting
Every airport I can think of from
the proper message from these
Sebastian to Miami has an active
incidents:
northwesterly -southeasterly.
runway that gets extensive use in
The Sebastian City Council has
south Florida's wind conditions.
discussed closing runway 13, but
the runway had nothing to do with
. -Airports that have runways that
the accidents. True, the aircraft
:don't favor the prevailing winds
involved were attempting to land
are sometimes hazardous to land
on runway 13, but 1n.no way was
on when crosswind conditions
the runway a contributing factor
exist. Pilot skill and airplane
to either accident. The closing of
design are the two. important fac-
the runway, if anything, will add
tors to consider when making the
an additional hazard to aircraft
decision to land in a crosswind.
landing at the airport.
On e factor in designing an air -
Most airports have more than plane is to determine the cross -
one runway to accommodate wind angle and windspeed it can
landings into the best, or prevail- handle without drifting from its
n Spate,0f
track. The airplane'is usually.sub`
jected to tests in what is considered!-*- e
the worst possible flight conditions,.
— fully loaded to aft center 'A
gravity, landing gear and flaps .,Talk "
down at certain temperature cone
ditions. The testing results in a dey
signed crosswind 'limit for Qn airPlanes built.kMj
The point of all this is to stress C7�.t�.enJ� itl
that landing on a runway that does -
not favor the best wind conditiot
may present hazards. In fact `been a learning experience for me.
could be said that without runway :I try to improve my skills on every
13/31, the safety of landing at Sev -flight.
bastian Airport would be jeopar= ...
dazed in certain wind conditions: It is sad that the Feb. 3 midair
Another idea — to limit or stop collision occurred. The loss of life
training flights from landing at the and injury is terrible.
airport — is also a - poor solution:
Every pilot is constantly training. - In the accident report, witnesses
I learned how to fly over 40 years .-said the airplane flown by R.L.
ago, and every flight since then has Cooper flew past the approach to
Plane Crashes
the runway, continued banking to
return to the approach and col-
} aided with the other airplane at
approximately. 300 feet above the
ground.
At this altitude, both airplanes
should have been descending in a
level attiMde toward the runway,-
with one airplane looking .straight
at the other. It is important to re-
member that almost 70 percent of
visibility -is lost when an airplane
is banked. When you are descend-
ing with your wings level, you ac-
tually have a panoramic'view that
exceeds 180 degrees from left to
right (somewhat better in a high
wing airplane according to some
pilots). However, when the ` air-
plane is banked, panoramic visi-
bility is limited to half the
windshield. The wings, cabin, ceil-
ing and floor cover up the pan-
oramic view and limit your seeing
other airplanes.
When turning onto your base leg
of the landing pattern, you are at
what is called the "key position."
In a standard landing pattern, you
should be able to see the airport
and runway to your left, and any
landing traffic from that point all
the way out and to your right. If
the weather is VFR, you should be
able to see the traffic that you are
going to follow in for your landing.
Obviously, one pilot didn't see the
other and the accident happened,
but to no fault of the airport or its
runway 13.
In recent months, I . have used
the Sebastian Airport. While taxi-
ing back to the takeoff point, I no-
ticed the airport hasn't had. any
apparent 'improvements. The
runway looked the same as it
always has. Isn't it time to get the
political stalemate out of the pic-
ture and start 'improving the air-
port facility? Safe flying;