Thank you to our CHIRP GA FEEDBACK reader who agreed we could use their ILAHFFT so that others may learn from their experiences on this day…
When this incident happened, I didn’t realise that all the holes lined up perfectly and it was only after some time that I discovered that it was absolutely preventable at each and every stage. That is why we must never be complacent with Threat and Error Management. How about this story to prove my point.
The weather had been poor for some time, and I was desperate to fly – anywhere. My flying buddy was on holiday, but I woke up one morning with sun shining through the bedroom window. Great! I can go flying at last. Even after 1000 hours, I still find it exciting to fly, but I am always a little bit anxious especially when I’m on my own. That’s a healthy sign….yes?
Where shall I fly to? I know! An airfield that I have never been to and I know it has lots of training going on plus special arrival and departure rules. In addition, it is very close to the London CTR and lays to the west of my home airfield. A good challenge for me after not flying for some time. Shall we say this is hole number one?
I had plugged the route into the iPad and kept checking the weather. There were some non-flyable areas to the west, but they were only slowly creeping towards the east so I should be OK, but I knew I had to keep an eye out for them developing quicker. Shall we say this was hole number two?
I arrived at the airfield and removed the cover and did the aircraft checks. Plenty of fuel for my short trip and everything else was good. My aircraft is parked within a row of three and opposite my row is a line of club aircraft. It’s always a concern that when taxying between all these aircraft, that my wing tips avoid hitting one of them. While I was doing my checks, a low wing Piper taxied in and parked at the end of my line. I thought what a silly place to park as it restricted the width of the taxiway. However, as my aircraft is a high wing, I could put it over the cowling of the Piper as its propeller had stopped on the horizontal. The pilot got out and went into the clubhouse. Unbeknown to me, rather than staying there for a bite to eat etc, he had come in as part of his cross-country training. Shall we say this is hole number three?
I pulled my aircraft out of the line into the taxiway between the rows of aircraft. Just as I did this, an instructor came out with a pupil and told me that I had parked in front of his aircraft. I told him that I would not be long starting up and as soon as I had, I would taxy away from his aircraft. I got in my aircraft and hurried through the checks and started the engine. So now I’m a bit flustered to hurry up and also on my mind was the complications of my destination airfield. Shall we say this is hole number four?
With the engine running fine, I started to taxy forward looking out for both my wingtips not to touch the other aircraft. I had just about worked out my taxy line where my starboard wing would go over the cowling of the Piper, when it suddenly started up. Without me realising it, the student had got his logbook signed and was leaving. I had not anticipated that he would be so quick. I suddenly had to change my line to avoid the spinning propeller keeping a careful eye on it when there was a sudden “clonk”. My port wing tip had struck the rudder of a club aircraft. As I stopped, the Piper casually taxied out and away unaware of the disaster I had caused.
I had many chances to stop this from happening but my urge to fly after a long spell of poor weather caused me to overlook the Swiss cheese holes.
Firstly, after a layoff, I should have decided to go to a simple airfield that I had visited many times.
Secondly, I should have gone to a destination to the east to avoid a possible interaction with poor weather.
Thirdly, I should have gone back into the clubhouse to see how long the Piper student was going to be and, if he was going to be some time, to ask him if we could push his aircraft back from the taxiway.
Fourthly, When the instructor informed me that I was in his way, I should have pushed my aircraft to another position and not rushed my checks.
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