A near miss on the runway — General Aviation News

This is an excerpt from a report made in Aviation Safety Reporting System. The story is written by the pilot, not by FAA or NTSB officials. Many details, such as the model of the aircraft or the airport, are often removed from the reports to preserve anonymity.

The student and I were in a pattern. After our initial takeoff and landing, I instructed my student on the patterns and proper procedures.

I heard two planes in the area on the radio. Plane Y was announcing the 10 mile final for Runway 5 and I heard Plane Z take off from Runway 14.

At that time, the wind was in favor of Runway 5. My student and I had already made a preliminary takeoff and landing on Runway 5 for takeoff practice.

After I heard the plane take off from Runway 14, I actively tried to look for it, but I couldn’t spot it, so I began to divert my attention to another plane landing on Runway 5.

My student starts to turn around at the base as the Y plane announces the final 5 miles behind us.

We descend to the runway and make a safe landing. We stop on the runway to clear the plane and do a very brief debrief because the Y plane that landed behind us was 1 mile on final when he made the radio call.

We make a radio call that we are departing from runway 5 and staying in the pattern.

At this point, I make sure my student is following the proper takeoff procedure. We were about 10 knots below our spin speed when I looked up and to the left and noticed that the plane was taking off on runway 14 and we were on a direct collision course if the pilots didn’t take action.

I immediately abort the takeoff, quickly pulling the throttle to idle, applying the full brakes, and taking control from my apprentice.

We begin to stall as I announce over the radio that we are aborting takeoff due to Z’s departure on 14. We stop on the runway and watch as Z continues to take off and makes no radio calls.

I believe the Y plane was on the ground, making a call “on the fly” and flying out of the area to the south. The Z plane leaves the area and we continue our lesson without further incident.

Later after the flight, the pilot of plane Y contacted me on my cell phone and we told each other. I could tell by the sound of his voice that my aborted takeoff and subsequent go-around had really shaken him. We talked on the phone about each other’s perspectives and he said that because of the departure of the Z plane and my aborted takeoff on his go-around, he almost stalled the plane and crashed into the back of me or our plane. He was going to stay behind us but decided to go back to his airport after the event.

I believe that this event could have been prevented in several ways.

The pilot of plane Z should have been listening to the radio and should have heard that the plane was already in the pattern and the plane was landing on runway 5. They weren’t supposed to be taking off from the runway, they were taking off. They could have waited until both planes were safely off the road and back in the air before leaving the runway.

There is a possibility that during my training with my student I missed the radio call from the Z aircraft. Perhaps I should have stopped the conversation and listened.

Aircraft Y was also able to give me a little more time to assess my situation and give me and my student a little more time to fly away.

The main problem: the human factor

ACN: 1911233