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SUV driving on the runway

tc1234c

tc1234c

Well Known Member
Yesterday on short final to I34 I saw a SUV drove on cross the end of the runway right under us. This is an airport with no fence and right next to some baseball diamonds (games were on and all full), a bowling alley, and a water park. The little terminal building has a sign that reads " "For service inquire at Bowling Alley"".


http://youtu.be/KUHhOcC-B38
 
Looks good to me IF he saw you and understood the displaced threshold. But I'm not sure he saw you, in which case, it would be ugly.
 
There is a jump school there, wouldn't surprise me if the SUV had something to do with that. As long as you have an eye on him this really wasn't a problem...you must just assume always that they didn't see you. Same goes for other airplanes...
 
Runway Test Track

Our local now "Ex-Airport Manager purchased a High performance Dodge recently. He thought it was great fun giving rides at High speed on the active runway and taxiway.
He was fired by the City Manager
 
The other side of the runway is a corn field. After I shut down the engine and got out of the airplane I did not see that SUV. It must drove back to where he came from. He probably was one of the guys watching baseball game and thought the runway was a narrow country road (40' wide along a corn field). Only after he saw me coming he realized it was not.

A few weeks ago I had a big turtle crossing my runway. I had to land beyond the turtle. Last week I had a fox standing 200' in front of me at the runway center line watching me taking off. The engine noise scared it away. By the way these are all at different places. Fortunately I have not encountered any deers jumping across the runway. Of course birds diving left and right is common. This is my first SUV encounter.
 
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In the locations that I fly, this is not an unusual thing. Many small airports do not have fences - these seem to be magnets for teenage drivers. The airpark where I live has people driving around lost fairly regularly (yes, on the runways - apparently unable to read). It teaches "defensive landing" - you learn to look well beyond the runway itself when in the pattern. Where is that car, jogger, bicyclist, etc... going? It is distracting and a good reason to go around.

A few weeks ago I was taxiing to my property and a jogger was same direction as me and would not get out of the way so I could pass. I had to follow them - apparently with headphones/music blaring in their ears.
 
tc1234c said:
Fortunately I have not encountered any deers jumping across the runway. Of course birds diving left and right is common. This is my first SUV encounter.
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Kangaroos are the worst. They come out at dusk when it's hard to see (especially on runways aligned into the setting sun). Sized somewhere between a large dog and a full-grown man, made out of nothing but bone and muscle, solid as a tree trunk. And they swarm in mobs, so even if the three you've spotted by the side of the runway are bounding away, the other six you haven't seen on the other side of the runway are apt to jump over to join them at the worst possible moment.

Engine noise doesn't scare them away. If you fly a low pass over them, they kinda stand still and watch you as you go whizzing by, as if to say, "Who the heck are you and just what do you think you're doing in my sky?"

- mark
 
not a big deal?

rocketbob said:
There is a jump school there, wouldn't surprise me if the SUV had something to do with that. As long as you have an eye on him this really wasn't a problem...you must just assume always that they didn't see you. Same goes for other airplanes...
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ok, you guys that fly from little strips are 'used' to this...but imagine the news story if you even clipped the antennae of the SUV..." crazed flyer in home-made flivver nearly massacres innocent family!"

Unlikely that the driver saw anything due to the roofline of the vehicle, plus it's hard to see or hear approaching aircraft as you are texting someone while following your GPS to the ball diamond. Really. ....what was the guy even doing cutting across the grass, it's nowhere near the ball fields etc.
Perhaps to do these talented individuals a favour, a can of paint and a 4" roller to create a bold 'hold' line would help? Wind sock, DOT approved orange cones? to clearly delineate this as a runway.
 
go-around?

Probably only a gate and fence would have prevented that vehicle from straying into the runway area.


Not trying to be critical here. It may have been better to abort-the-landing and go-around. How did the pilot know the SUV wasn't accellerating down the runway underneath the plane? Also, application of full power to initiate the go around may have got the driver's attention helping him/her to realize they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't know if there would have been time to press the button, but this is one reason why I've put a set of compact airhorns on the 7. Sounds like a train. :)

Bevan
 
My procedure for dealing with oblivious people on the runway would likely get me flamed here - so I'll refrain. :rolleyes:

...but he'd know I was there before I landed.;)
 
flyboy1963 said:
Perhaps to do these talented individuals a favour, a can of paint and a 4" roller to create a bold 'hold' line would help? Wind sock, DOT approved orange cones? to clearly delineate this as a runway.
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I'm afraid it won't help (can't hurt though). We've tried all those things. The people that are "this problem" are oblivious. We've even had them plow THRU the orange plastic "barrier fence" at the end of the runway cause "the road shouldn't have just ended like that". I've been AMAZED at their reactions when I run them off - generally one of "it's someone else's fault - not enough paint/signage/cones/etc...". Kind like trying to legislate common sense.
 
I am sure that there are people who will do stupid things regardless what kind of signs and fences you put up there. However, I am convinced that this SUV driver was confused. He must thought the runway was a roadway. If you view the video again you will see that he was going to turn onto the runway then realized that he made a mistake. Quickly he turn back and went straight. Since I was aiming 500' down At the displayed threshold i did not think we were in real danger. By the time I made the turn off, the guy had already went back to where he came from. In this case a sign or a fence will prevent people from making the mistake.

The airport future plan (on the wall in the terminal) calls for a 5,000' x 100' new runway west of the current runway. Hope they will build some barriers between the airport and the sport complex.

When you travel around the country you are going to encounter many situations that you are not familiar with. Yes, you always have to be alert.
 
smoke system

JDRhodes said:
My procedure for dealing with oblivious people on the runway would likely get me flamed here - so I'll refrain. :rolleyes:

...but he'd know I was there before I landed.;)
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This gives me one more reason to put smoke in the -9 I am building. Well, actually, it gives me A reason to put smoke in the -9 I am building! I bet you wish you were flying the AH-64D my son flys.

At O61, Cameron Park, they have a gate and owners in the air park have a clicker that lets them from the air park to the runway. Without a fence, it is hard to keep idiots from going anywhere.
 
Here, at 7S5, Their favorite excuse for being on the airpark taxiways is "I'm just following my GPS". Did you see the signs you had to drive past in two places I ask? Well, yes, but I'm just following my GPS. Besides, I was being carefull and watching for planes.

Many of these folks just don't get it or don't care.
 
Can happen to anyone...

Unfortunately, this can happen to any of us!

I was attending an airshow, we were arriving late, they "kept the airfield open late for us". KSUA

As I was shutting down the tower said "goodnight, we stayed open 30 min longer for you". We shut down, they took us to our rental car and we took off. The rental cars were in the grass (see link) between taxi way D and R/W 34. The airport manager was there and gave the following directions: "That right there is Delta, drive up delta (north) make a left on charlie and take it to the FBO, the field is closed, you are cleared to cross any runway."

SO, I did what any red blooded American in a rental car would do...I floored it and followed his progressive taxi instructions. As the lights of the FBO got brighter someone in the car said "dude, thats a runway" But 2 of us heard the manager say "you are cleared to cross any runway". About 20 seconds after crossing, a light twin was completing his landing rollout...right behind us, probably cussing me up and down. I really thought I was doing everything correct and maybe I was, but I have been extra vigilant ever since.

For FAA people, this story may be fictitious.
 
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