AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 101

P&E

NEVER AGAIN

A cloud on the runway
Near-miss in Nevada

JAMES CAREY

BY DALE BROWN
IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL EARLY MORNING mid-summer
day at Carson City, Nevada. My son Hunter and I were
scheduled to fly an Angel Flight West mission in a
Cessna P210 to pick up a patient from Silver Springs,
Nevada, and transport her to Palo Alto, California.
Because the patient was under age 18, I needed another
adult on board, so I tapped Hunter for the task.
I learned there was just one airplane in the pattern
as I taxied out-a biplane Light Sport aircraft doing
touch and goes. The winds were out of the south at four
knots, so I announced I was taxiing to the calm-wind
Runway 27. The LSA pilot was using Runway 9 until
I announced, so he switched to Runway 27 and commenced doing landings on 27.
I taxied to the runup area, completed my checklists,
and taxied to the Runway 27 hold line as the biplane
turned final for landing. The LSA's approach to landing looked normal. I lost sight of the LSA atop my high
wing as it headed west down the runway, so I waited to
hear the pilot announce his crosswind turn, and then
I'd taxi out and launch.
I waited and strained to see what was going on.
There was no announcement if the LSA was doing a
full stop or touch and go. I waited.
Then I saw a large cloud of dust bloom out from
the south side of Runway 27, approximately midfield.
I immediately got on the common traffic advisory frequency and said, "Aircraft landing at Carson, are you
OK?" No response.
I thought about taxiing across the runway and heading down taxiway Alpha to where I last saw the LSA,
but then I saw the airplane lift off. Hmm, I thought: OK,
nothing happened. I waited until I could no longer see
the LSA, and I heard no other announcements from him
for several long moments, so I announced I was taking
off on Runway 27. I taxied onto Runway 27 and did a
normal full-power takeoff.
I was no more than 100 feet above ground after takeoff when I found myself nose to nose with the biplane
LSA. The pilot was lining up to land on Runway 9 just
moments after I lifted off of Runway 27.
I did a steep turn to the right, held it until I heard
the stall warning horn, then leveled out. The LSA
passed off to my left just a few yards away. I could
clearly see a large black object lodged in the airplane's
landing gear. There was not one word on the radio
from the LSA's pilot.

I guess I was just so flummoxed by what just happened that I stayed off the
radio and executed a normal pattern exit to the east. There was nothing on the
Carson CTAF frequency until several minutes later when someone reported
they were inbound for landing and the airport was reported "Closed." I headed
east to Silver Springs, picked up my passenger, and completed my Angel Flight
West mission. I found out later that the black object in the LSA's landing gear
was a taxiway sign that the LSA ran into during the touch-and-go roll.
I didn't think that much about the incident until I briefed my Civil Air Patrol
(CAP) squadron about the event at an annual ground school class for CAP pilots
preparing for our annual Form 5 checkrides (a mandatory flight review conducted every year).
I should have waited a few minutes longer to determine absolutely
where the stricken airplane was and what he was doing. But he wasn't
talking on the radio, so it was tough to figure out what to do. I was on an
Angel Flight West mission, so I was definitely under the "get the mission
done" mentality. My drive was to launch the Angel Flight mission no matter what. I could have waited a few minutes and sort out what was going
on. Lesson learned.
AOPA
DALE BROWN lives in Incline Village, Nevada. He has written numerous aviation

novels and is a mission pilot for the Civil Air Patrol.
DIGITAL EXTRA Hear this and other original "Never Again" stories

as podcasts every month on iTunes and download audio files free
(www.aopa.org/never_again).

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 101


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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018

Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 4
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 7
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Cover4
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