A very good friend of mine owns a beautiful Lancair Legacy, which he proudly helped to build. I like to describe this airplane as “all engine, with an airframe strapped to it as an afterthought”. The Continental IO-550 (over 300 HP) combined with a light, clean composite airframe (2200 lbs Max gross weight) produces some very impressive piston performance- 2200 FPM to 10,000 ft, cruising at 240 kts on 14-15 GPH and a range of 1150 sm (data from Lancair website). My friend loves the speed of this “engine with an airframe” and often takes advantage of its capabilities to get some “speed jollies”. Herein lies the rub. While it is one thing to request a high speed, low pass from bored (?) tower controllers at his home field (to remain anonymous), he has mentioned to me that, on more than one occasion, he has performed the same maneuver at non-towered fields such as Nut Tree (KVCB). While striving to restrain passing judgement on others’ flying, I strongly felt that doing 230 kts 50 feet off the deck at a non-towered 4700x75 ft runway was an invitation for disaster. I pointed out to him that a radio-less yellow Piper Cub would not expect anyone “smoking” down the runway at those closure speeds. Furthermore, as it turns out, Nut Tree (KVCB) is the West Coast home of ICON, manufacturer of the ICON A5 amphibian that cruises along at a blistering 95 kts. (Note, on the other hand, the Legacy can’t land on water!) The point that I made it clear to my friend was that I felt his need to experience the impressive speed of the Legacy at a non-towered field, where there was a marked mix of aircraft with different speeds and capabilities, was simply dangerous. Unfortunately, he has since ceased to “confess” any other such playtime in the pattern (except at his home field.)
This brings to mind the tragic accident of mixing widely disparate aircraft speeds at Watsonville (KWVI) airport on August 18, 2022 between a twin Cessna 340 and a Cessna 152. There were 3 fatalities (all aboard the two involved aircraft perished.) For those who might be unfamiliar, Watsonville Airport (KWVI) on the California coast can be a very busy, non-towered airport with a mix of high-performance singles, twins and jets, experimental aircraft, helicopters and sky-divers. The prevalent marine layer and cross wind runway (not to mention a good on-field restaurant) make this airport a magnet for visitors, VFR and instrument training, not to mention helicopters and skydiving activity.
Briefly, the Cessna 152 was involved in “touch and go” pattern work, having already completed 4 circuits, to runway 20. The twin Cessna 340 was northeast of Watsonville setting up for a straight-in approach for runway 20 and first reported his intentions for landing straight-in runway 20, from 10 miles out. For the most part, the two aircraft were making standard position calls for non-towered field operations. In short, the Cessna 152 turned base to final while the Cessna 340 was on a protracted straight-in final, with approach speed of approximately 180 knots (ADS-B data). The final radio transmission of the Cessna 152 indicated that the pilot recognized the excessive closure rate of the straight-in Cessna 340, tried to initiate a go-around, but it was too late to avoid the collision. There is no indication the pilot of the Cessna 340 ever comprehended where the conflicting traffic was in the pattern.
There are many aspects to this accident which are worthy of discussion and hence, learning opportunities. For example, operations at non-towered airports (recommended pattern entry), non-tower field communications, where and under what conditions do mid-air collisions ”typically” occur, human factors (Complacency? Big airplane arrogance? Small airplane pilot inexperience ?, etc.) are just a few of the aspects to learn from this accident.
HOWEVER, what is painfully clear is that the excessive speed of the twin Cessna, at 180 kts on short final, was a MAJOR contributor to this accident. We may never know why the twin Cessna pilot was flying at 180 kts on short final, well above the landing gear extension speed, while clearly stating the intention to land.
What we do know, is speed, especially when out of the ordinary or unexpected, can kill.
References:
1. Air Safety Institute:
2. Blancolirio Channel:
3. Max Trescott:
4. NTSB Preliminary Report (Accident number WPR22FA309)
5. AC 90-66C Non-Towered Airport Flight Operations (updated 6/06/2023)
Fly Like your Life Depends on It!
Joe Romson, CFI
Director of Safety
JATO Aviation, LLC
07/2023