FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR REACTS to STUDENT Pilot MIDAIR COLLISION August 18th, 2022 Watsonville, CA airport 

Finally someone criticizing the guy in the twin, he was clearly at fault. I have watched many videos that don't want to blame him, he was hot dogging it by flying final that fast.

This VERY scenario happened to me a couple of days after this accident. I was flying pattern work at F70. I’m a student pilot midfield on downwind and I hear a Duchess calling 5 miles out for a straight-in for 18, the active runway. When I’m abeam the numbers, the Duchess calls 3 miles out for a straight-in full -stop. The Watsonville accident is rushing through my head! As a student with barely 50 hours I call the duchess and say I’ll do a short final to get out of their way. They say thanks. So I bank left and go straight for the numbers. I pick up speed and I’m in a very unstable approach. So I give full power and call a go-around. The duchess calls that they decided to pass over midfield and enter the pattern on the left downwind. Whew! In hindsight, the safer decision on my part would have been to extend my downwind, watch for the duchess to pass on my left, then turn base. But I’m new and refining my aeronautical decision making. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

We had a GREAT example of this. 2-3 planes were in the pattern (1 left by the time the twin made it to the field) and we had a twin calling a straight in approach at 10 and then 5 miles. My instructor actually hopped on the radio and said (paraphrasing) "inbound twin to midway please be advised there are multiple aircraft operating in the pattern. Would advise against a straight in approach. Midway." The inbound twin hopped on and replies (again, paraphrasing): Midway traffic, thanks for the heads up, will alter course and enter from a 45 on the downwind". Literally the next day the Watsonville incident occurred. As a student it struck me that WE were in a similar situation. The difference being the proactive communication between all parties involved. I learned a lot that day and the next.

We fly practice ILS and RNAV approaches at non-towered fields all the time and you have to be so careful as they are always straight in. Always be willing to break off an approach for another aircraft, especially a student pilot. Thanks Jason for all the great videos.

Overflying the field is something I almost never get to do over here, almost all untowered fields in Finland have lots of glider activity and overflying the field is specifically discouraged at those airfields :) The typical approach is to circle the field outside and above the traffic pattern and then join downwind.

As a airline pilot and current flight instructor out of Reid Hillview in San Jose, it really hits close to home to for me especially since I trained in Watsonville, I’ve trained students into Watsonville and I still fly into Watsonville myself on my days off. Aviation is an industry built upon the bodies that laid before them, that’s what a college professor taught me when I went to school for Aviation. It just breaks my heart to see accidents like this happen because someone else is being careless and reckless. I appreciate your video, and it just pains me to hear about this incident while at the same time it’s a good example for current and future pilots to learn about what not to do because that student pilot, that person in the pattern, did everything by the book and it just breaks my heart that his life was taken away so suddenly. Thank you again and great video. Keep inspiring students and also keep up the great work!

I've been guilty of flying those long straight-in approaches at non-towered fields. I like to think I'm mindful of traffic in the pattern. Even so, I'm going to make some changes going forward. I like that upwind/midfield-crossover method.

Tips for uncontrolled aerodromes from a retired controller. The base turn point is a decision point, we call it the 'race to base'. For GA aircraft, whoever will get to base or 3nm final first is usually #1 and the other aircraft gets adjusted somehow. For higher performance aircraft 5nm is a good rule of thumb. Once an aircraft is on final at those distances, we don't let a pattern aircraft turn base. Every situation is different, these are just used as a guide which are adjusted for aircraft speeds. The twin didn't give an estimate for the field? Hard to sequence yourself with other traffic if you don't know either how fast they are going and how far away they are, or what their estimate for the field is. Use their estimate to work out where you will be at that time and plan to sequence yourself behind them if its going to be tight. If you are worried about a conflict, always better to keep the other traffic where you can see it. Try to deconflict yourself in a way that maintains the best visibility of the conflict. Once you are committed to base, there aren't a lot of go round options that get you out of the conflict area quickly. When I fly I try to combine ATC principles to keep myself segregated from other aircraft until I can see them. So how would ATC have managed this? In a radar environment we would have speed data to help us determine the sequence, in a non radar environment we would require estimates to be given. From either of those we can quickly determine the best sequence. From there we would give instructions to segregate the traffic until we could see both aircraft and ensure they would remain separated, or handover responsibility to the pilots (sight and follow). Option 1: straight in aircraft sequenced #1. If we need more room between a pattern aircraft and a straight in aircraft, an orbit early downwind would be the first step with the option for a small downwind extension later if a little more adjustment was required. If not much room was needed, just a downwind extension would work. That puts the pattern aircraft in a good position to sight the other aircraft while on downwind, turn base behind them and follow them. Option 2: pattern aircraft sequenced #1. First option would be to slow down the straight in aircraft. That doesn't always work with slippery aircraft, and at 10 miles when you normally start talking to an aircraft in the tower you don't have much distance to make use of speed control (if you are trying to squeeze in front of a faster aircraft, it will rarely work). Even slowing them down you still have a faster following scenario. Alternatively, commit early to the sequence and put a descent restriction on the arriving aircraft (that separates vertically above the pattern). Give tracking instructions to join the pattern. Once established laterally in the pattern and clear of conflict issue decent to pattern altitude. Having them join the pattern even with an altitude restriction gives options for sequencing with other pattern traffic below such as extend upwind, or a wide circuit which is a good option for higher performance aircraft allowing them to keep sight of slower aircraft running a tighter pattern. And that will work for an arrival from any direction. Not surprisingly these options are similar to the recommended techniques and what Jason suggested.... they are based of ATC principles, just simplified to work without ATC. Sequencing a straight in approach with pattern traffic with aircraft of different speeds is tricky even with a radar and not flying your own aircraft at the same time. That situation should ring an alarm due to increased risk that you need to manage. Lots of ways to segregate yourself with the pattern while working out how to fit yourself into it. Just as there are ways to deal with aircraft that are not following those procedures. Estimates are key for non controlled aerodromes. If a Pilot makes an inbound call without one, ask them for their estimate. Set up the deconfliction plan at 10nm out, don't leave it until 3nm on base.

This is the most accurate and honest review I've seen of this incident yet. There's actually people out there saying don't turn final until you can get eyes on the other aircraft. There's absolutely no way that guy on base could have seen an aircraft doing 200+Knots towards him. At those speeds even if he got eyes on the twin it would have been too late anyway. Anyone that's seen what the closure rate is at that speed knows exactly what I'm talking about. I'm sorry but there was absolutely zero reason to come blazing in on short final carrying that kind of speed. We all make mistakes and my heart goes out to all involved.

Stuff like this is scary for people like me who are thinking about getting into this field. The fact that there is SO MUCH communication but someone can still be like this is jaw dropping. That student pilot was probably like so many others looking forward to building toward his experience.

Please, please - all pilots, protect yourself. Don’t turn base until you have all aircraft ahead of you on base or final in sight, or as a bare minimum in the case of a long on-final aircraft they call YOU in sight. Extend your downwind as a first choice if it is safe at the location. Backup options are, if nobody is behind you in the pattern, delay by circling or just bail out of the pattern and return to re-enter on the 45 degree.

It happens to all of us in terms of traffic conflicts. Just the other day, I was dealing with a right main gear issue in terms of couldn’t get a green light on my right main. I ended up going around, resequencing, and flying the traffic pattern again to the runway I intended to land on. In the process of flying the downwind, and trying to get my right main gear issue solved, and I ended up getting the green light on the right main. I was cleared to land and started to turn my left base. About the time I was turning my left base, a Navajo called into the tower checking in saying they were on the RNAV approach into the runway I was cleared to land on. First time hearing from the Navajo. The airport I fly out of has no radar in the tower. Tower asked the Navajo what his distance was, and he said he was 3 miles out. Tower asked the Navajo to confirm he said he was 3 miles out. Before Tower could say anything else, I broke off my left based approach and told tower that I was going to resequence behind that traffic. Long story short, I very easily could’ve had this exact same situation happen to me two days ago. Not gonna lie, I had no idea he was there as I had my hands full dealing with my gear issue. But as soon as I heard he was 3 miles out on his initial call, I became aware of him and Voluntarily broke off the approach. Technically, I was the one who had the right away. But it didn’t take tower telling me for me to make a decision to get the hell away from that conflict.

Here's what really gets me is that the student in the Cessna actually spots the twin behind him as if he had Rear View Vision and meanwhile the guy in the twin has total vision but like you said he's looking off to the left he's looking at base but from what I was learning in my earlier days of Ground School always scan with your eyes never keep them fixed on one point unless you're trying to find a reference that's not near the Airfield obviously

Great reminder that radio communications are two-way. The jerk in the twin simply announced what he was doing and ignored everyone else's calls/intentions...which killed three people. Just like defensive driving, assume that the other guy/gal isn't looking out for you. It can be annoying, but extending your downwind leg for someone cutting ahead of you on final costs merely a few seconds and a handful of dollars.

Once again it's important to emphasize listening and reacting to traffic pattern calls. It seems like speaking on the radio is emphasized, but accidents primarily result from not listening on the radio. I had a similar scenario with a much faster plane behind me, with us both in the pattern. We both made all the correct calls, and I foolishly thought that the pilot behind me would go around. Praise God that I realized I needed to go around before I had the same type of accident seen here.

I flew into an untowered airport today, and this accident was 1,000% on my mind. Lucky for me, it was a typical ctaf with zero traffic at the time of my arrival.

Jason, (Mitch @KTRM), I’m so glad you brought this up. Far too many pilots of faster planes bully their way in and skip the pattern.

My takeaway from this accident is kinda complex. On one hand, the twin pilot is absolutely at fault and never should have continued his approach and long final. On the other hand, the student called his base shortly after the twin called a 3 mile final, would have been very easy to extend the downwind and wait for the twin to blast by. Yes, the student was right, he had the right of way as he was already established in the pattern. But sometimes it's easier to give way and deal with the jerk on the ground instead.

Very good video. Here in the UK with have a "Standard overhead join" most uncontrolled airfield request pilots join with this method. I personally employ this on every flight to uncontrolled fields. . Overfly at 2000 ft, decend to 1000 ft on deadside and join cross wind. Provides spacing, allows a visual inspection of airfield environment, spot traffic improving situational awareness. Terrible and preventable loss of 3 souls and reminds us that we all have a responsibility to make sure our follow aviators go home to their families as well as ourselves at the end of a good days flying. Fly safely all. 🙂

Thank you for reacting to this. One thing that this accident made me consider explicitly is that on a straight-in approach there is a pretty large blind spot in front of and below the pilot. For the high-wing / low-wing collision this is exacerbated. But by approaching on the 45 into the downwind all of the issues are mitigated by being able to see the pattern laterally. I'm baffled as to why the twin was traveling so fast an why they never considered that even if they'd made the runway there would still potentially be an airplane there in front of them.

Buy an adsb. See traffics on your screen. Best safety investment for GA pilots

I operate out of a small uncontrolled field that has a very busy flight school. It’s not uncommon to have three or four airplanes in the pattern. It’s also not uncommon for instrument students to be practicing approaches straight into the runway. To compound things, there are also high-performance airplanes and helicopters doing operations regularly. So this accident scenario is not unfamiliar to me. I’ve developed 4 skills to minimize the risk of a mid air collision: 1: Announce your intentions early and often (use time as well as distances on your callouts) 2: Know what kind and where the aircraft are in the pattern. ADSV is helpful with that as well. 2: Follow FAA traffic pattern entry recommendations. This will make your movements predictable to other aircraft. 3: Be patient; be prepared to do a 360 on down or extend downwind or even leave the traffic pattern and try again.

Thank you for this!! Non towered airport = aviate, navigate, (and then) communicate. The 340 was working his priorities from the back of the list.

Thank you for acknowledging that a straight in is dangerous when there is traffic in the pattern. I did my training at KWVI and it is so frustrating and dangerous when pilots just come in however they want whether it is straight in, base only, or some strange hybrid. I think it is time the FAA steps up and just prohibits non standard entries at non-towered airports. As aviators we are given a significant amount of discretion but if there isn't an emergency there is no good reason to deviate from the standard pattern.

It is absolutely incredible to see how reckless some pilots are even when entering a pattern in an uncontrolled airport. Yesterday at 0S9 I was in the pattern downwind and I had called three times approaching the airport. Total silence. Another aircraft then called 3 miles south and wanted to use the other runway. Wind was calm. After I informed him that I was in the pattern he decided to enter the downwind for the same runway. He did not have me insight I asked him three times if he could see me and he responded negative. In spite of that he continued to fly directly aiming straight at me at pattern altitude with a faster aircraft. I could see him on ADSB behind me. I gave it full power and climbed. Allowing him to cut me off. Crazy.

Thank you, as others have said, for calling out the straight-in twin. Yes, the loss of life is sad and unfortunate all around, but the student paying the ultimate price really causes a knot in the stomach--especially since he tried to get away from the bad situation. RIP to all who lost their lives. The rest of us, fly safe, smart and courteously.

Agree. I would often annoy my FO's by making a more conventional pattern entry., particularly at non-tower airports. (ATP, 7000hrs jet, 3000hrs helo).

Thanks for your video and for highlighting this very important procedure. So sorry for the lives that were lost in this accident

Totally agree with your assessment, matches mine. I fly a C414 and rarely ever do a straight in. It gives everyone NO time to ensure there are other traffic in the pattern. There are a lot of No Radio aircraft out there too, not to mention aircraft that mistakenly use the wrong UNICOM freq. I overfly or go a long way around 1000 feet above AND I slow down. The more time you have to announce your position and enter the pattern more safely. Good video.

This makes me appreciate some of the stress and the extra 360s requested by ATC at my towered airport (KSDL). I love the non-towered too but it does feel good to have professional eyes backing me up when coming back to earth.

Jason, great info about flying traffic patterns and the options of entering the pattern. These are great values to follow at non towered airports to keep the flow consistent.

Thank you.. Very well presented... Thanks for the Advisory Circular!

THANK YOU!! So many commentaries on the C152 pilot cutting off the twin (invoking the rule about an aircraft on final having right of way), but this could have been avoided if the twin followed the pattern entry standards. Just please overfly the field and get in line and no one gets hurt.

"humble pie and a good reminder" Fantastic choice of words. There is never a moment you should be in a rush in the air. Controlled chaos under stress happens, but learning human factors is important to know because it is human error that causes most aircraft incidents.

I fly into Watsonville on occasion from the valley. You come over the coast range at at least 4000 likely higher. Once clear you enter a valley where the field comes up quickly. One it’s quite a bit of altitude to lose, especially for a straight in. Two it’s not a lot of time to assess traffic. I always use the space west of the field to lose the altitude safely and work out the traffic. In the days not that long ago without AdsB it was listening and looking. Once I added AdsB I was shocked how planes there were in that area. I still can’t believe any pilot would lose that much altitude and still set up for a good straight in approach.

I notice when these incidents occur the early commenters often pussyfoot around giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. But upon reflection the obvious becomes undeniable. Reckless, selfish, dangerous, .. Jason, hats off to you for calling a spade a spade.

Really appreciate your channel.

I’m a local Watsonville single engine pilot and this was 100% my thinking as well. I’m hearing some pushback from twin pilots and instructors who point out that we should still expect straight ins from twins and jets who may be too fast for the traffic pattern. This accident is a special case with a twin pilot who is coming in way way too fast and was clearly at fault in the accident. But I’m curious if most pilots flying this type of twin Cessna would do a traffic pattern behind the 152?

good points Jason...thanks for your wisdom.

I've been working on my instrument rating. We do practice approaches at 3 different uncontrolled fields for now. We are about to start flying into a Class Delta airport and bring ATC into my training. I'll be glad when we do that.

It is always super important to check the airfield information for joining instructions as some have very non standard setups. Field I flew into today has a join 100ft above the traffic pattern - not a typo, actually 100ft as 100ft above that is class C. A few other fields have strange joins due to noise abatement and we regularly have people getting surprised by other planes appearing where they aren't expecting them.

Excellent! Thanks Jason.

This is definitely going to keep me from doing long straight in’s thank you for this video.

This happened to me this past weekend, someone coming straight in on a 3 mile final with 3 people in the pattern just as I turned base. I re-entered a downwind just to see them scream past 40 seconds later 😮‍💨

Great explanation, Jason. I was at South Lake Tahoe on Friday morning. I’m in the runup area for 36 and a 182 (if I remember correctly) is doing pattern work on 36 without ADS-B. There was a King Air coming in to land on 18. He was on short final while the 182 was making a touch and go on 36. At one point, the King Air asked the the 182s position and he didn’t respond. I ended up responding, as the 182 was still on the runway. He got airborne and ended up making a quick turn to right crosswind to get out of the way of the King Air, but it was too close for comfort. In your opinion, what would be the right move by either plane? TVL recommends landing 18 and departing 36 when winds are calm. Both were using the correct runway, by those standards.

The ADSB shows the twin was carrying excessive speed , which was a major factor in the crash. He simply ran over the traffic in front of him. Unfortunately all 3 perished

This was a good video. I’ve been in the pattern and had to extend downwind because someone was doing a straight in and would not enter the pattern. Happened a couple times. Most of the time I will give space and extend downwind. For a twin or biz jet.

Super Video ! I feel your frustration.

Spot on, thanks Jason.

I literally flew that 90FL back in Livermore. That’s was my go to Aircraft. Sheeesh

Jason, great overview of what happened here. It’s sad that some pilots think they can just come blazing in at 150 K into the traffic pattern at non towered airports so save a few minutes. Shame on the guy in the twin Cessna for doing so. I have nothing against straight in Approaches but if you’re going to do them, you need to be looking at TCAS, and eyes outside and know where all the traffic is and fit in with the flow of traffic. If you can’t fit on a straight and then you need to enter a downwind as you discussed. There’s simply no excuse for that and what a sad ending for both pilots and passengers.

Can feel your frustration at this one, Jason, and I totally agree. How many times do we see these types of collisions or near-misses caused by impatience or entitlement of experience pilots thinking they can jump ahead of others, especially if they're students?

Thank you for showing this, we all get better and hopefully become safer pilots because of it. We should never be in a rush in aviation period. This was 100% avoidable and such a tragedy.

I fly at an untowered airport. Left hand pattern. Sometimes its chaos, people doing right hand pattern, some people flying straight in on long finals when there are multiple people in the pattern making calls. Just the other day I was in the pattern on runway 29 (wind was coming from 270) and an IFR pilot just called in a straight in approach on runway 11. Meanwhile I had been in the pattern making calls. It pays to switch to the radio and just listen for a minute. Find who's there, what the active runway is, and joining the pattern on a 45 to the downwind if it's busy.

A new pilot friend was asking me about this accident, as it is a common scenario at out local airport. My answer to him was this; yes the twin pilot was in the wrong to call a straight in final from so far out and expect pattern traffic to yield. That said, my recommendation is to radio your position and state that there is training traffic in the pattern. If they don’t adjust to fly the pattern, state that you will extend, or circle, whatever to avoid a conflict. You can come back and land and have a conversation about good airmanship, but DO NOT RISK YOUR LIFE because of another persons poor airmanship.

I totally agree, that pattern is there for a reason. I'd like to share how we enter the pattern here in South Africa, fly over the airfield 1000ft above pattern alt, determine runway in use if there is no traffic, else follow the traffic, decent to pattern altitude on the dead side and enter the pattern at crosswind. I can honestly say that I've never made a long straight in, but I've heard that radio calls, whomever on 10 mile final for whatever runway, what I did however is, if there is no traffic or very few traffic, cross midfield at pattern alt and enter mid down wind at a 45 degree angle.

The guy in the twin, bears the responsibility, making a high speed non-standard (even though allowed) pattern entry into an airport with close traffic in process. It's unlikely he saw the Cessna, ever. This also highlights a flaw in training -how to avoid an imminent collision. The student pilots choice of go around was exactly as he was trained - when an issue occurs on approach, we go around, which driven into pilots from day one. The go around kept him in the path of the twin, who couldn't see him below him. A robust left or right turn (45 deg or more) might have made a world of difference, but I'd bet that topic never came up in the students training. See and avoid is good, when it works, but when the other aircraft is just getting larger rapidly, you've got to MOVE your airplane NOW. In 35 years of GA, I've only had to do that twice. Both times a bold nose down turn prevented us from colliding. The other aircraft in each case simply carried on as if nothing had happened.

Good stuff.I am subscribing!

That twin was like a car flying thru a red light.

Thank you Jason for commenting on this accident! I am a student pilot at a non-towered airport. I’ve been in several situations just like this myself where I would have done a go around or extended my downwind. I was sandwiched in between two jets. On the downwind and my young CFI. decided after the first jet landed he would take over and do a short final approach and land quickly before the one behind us could land. I was still very early on in my training so I didn’t know any better. When we got to the ground though my young CFI. was chewed out for doing that. Overconfidence in one’s abilities cause accidents also. It’s this reason that I will always announce that I am a student pilot in situations like that so they understand who they’re working with. Thank you again for “your finer points”!

The day before the Watsonville midair EAA had a webinar about this subject.

Thank you!

When in doubt select zone 5 and live….we love to fly so fly away if it doesn’t feel safe! IFR training necessitates straight in….but if the pattern is full I’ll stay high and go around. Down wind can extend easy to help plz. Share the sky and slow down. Peace

First, and thanks for your commentary. Tragic event indeed. I work at Thermal Airport, and on the field everyone was talking about it. We also ad a 340 owner in our hangar. He agrees that the approach by the twin was way too fast, and wanted to push around the smaller plane out of the way, which is wrong.

My CFI was a surfer he told me landing is like waiting for a wave don't go until its your turn.

Was waiting for someone to say up loud that the guy who came in straight to final at twice the pattern speed is at fault! Thank you and dong forget to enter on a 45 to the downwind and stay alive

the way the radio calls shook out sounds like student was on base. when is the last time you taught anybody how to go around from the base leg? If seen some say he should have made a right, well then he is turning into the path of the guy doing 180kts…a 360 configured in base? an offset left? then he runs the risk of getting run over from the twins impending go around or is head on vs other down wind traffic. his only optionwas to extend his downwind, but low time, and the other guys blazing fast speed sealed his fate.

one exception to that rule (overflying) i know of is KDED where you are NOT ALLOWED to overfly the airport because there are skydivers in the air all day almost every day. it's even in the ATIS that you can't overfly, yet we had a survey plane the other day come in and say (paraphrasing), "ya we're going to overfly at 800 feet and do an opposite traffic pattern to everyone else in the pattern"... needless to say the skydiving plane pilot went nuts on the ctaf at him and he didnt turn up :D If you're going to come in at deland you have to circle around the airport and join the pattern on a 45. for whichever runway we're using at that time. and the TPA is 1100ft (technically 1080 but we all fly 1100)

Dam straight. What gall to blast straight in at excessive speed and obviously without seeing the traffic he clearly heard.

I first watched Juan Browne's Blancolirio meticulous coverage of this accident. Your information with excellent graphics makes a great follow up that will teach pilots the right and wrong way to deal with an uncontrolled airport. Your reaction was accurate and unfiltered. My reaction to this accident can be summed up in one word: arrogance.

I would love to see an automatic collision avoidance recommendation from ADSB in and out

Enjoyed your thoughts on this one. Not that we are a shining light in aviation regulation but in Australia an aircraft on a straight in must give way to other traffic established in the circuit. I was surprised this was not the case in the US.

Great video Jason thankyou. As you say, the twin Cessna pilot was so very wrong in creating a very dangerous situation when he knew the pattern was busy. I would like to learn a lesson from the mistake of the 150 pilot though. (I'm low time and inexperienced.) He performed what appears to be a blind turn on base - He knew the aircraft was coming, did not know its exact position but turned anyway. He wasn't in the wrong but didn't save himself.

The guy in the twin definitely should have been the one to go around. He didn't have the right-of-way since he was at a higher initial altitude. Awesome analysis as usual, Jason.

This same thing recently happened to me, but I handled it differently. I had just departed my home class G airport, and announced "remaining in the pattern" on departure. A Citation jet announced 7 miles east inbound straight in 28 approach. I saw him on my foreflight, and he was MOVING. I announced my turn downwind, and he said he was at 5 miles. Now I am about to turn Base, and he is 3 miles out, and I still can't see him. Instead of turning base, I wanted nothing to do with a Citation Jet, so I decided to extend my downwind and let him go in front of me. On 2 mile final, I finally had him in sight. I can say that if I would have continued in the pattern, even though I had the right of way, we would have conflicted on final, judging where he was when I saw him. I really extended my downwind to let the vortices clear the runway, so it was all good for me. These guys with big twins and jets hate using patterns because they are used to straight in ILS approaches and don't want to burn any more fuel than they have to. Problem is that someday they will do this when there is an older plane in the pattern with a bad radio, and without communication, they could have the same accident as these two. Always best to join the pattern.

Great job

I still prefer the Aussie-preferred way of entering a circuit/pattern, ie overfly and then join crosswind. Like you I prefer overlying 1000’ above circuit/pattern rather that 500’ because the latter is where the faster aircraft will be. Cheers.

Maybe this is a good lesson for those of us who fly slow high wing aircraft at uncontrolled airports. If you hear someone coming for a straight in approach in a high performance aircraft, and you’re on the downwind leg, don’t turn base until you see him pass you. It nearly happened to me as I was flying a C152 while on an extended downwind leg to allow a twin to make a straight in approach as cleared by the tower. The next thing I know the twin was coming right me, close enough for me to see the pilot and his passenger’s face and the rivets on the plane’s fuselage before he made a sharp right hand turn to get back on the runway heading. We almost didn’t make it home that day.

I came home to my airport Saturday morning straight in on 7. I called 10 miles out, 5 miles out and 3 miles out. I announced straight in for 7 if no one else in in the pattern. I never land straight in if anyone else is near the airport.

As a 50 year pilot and plane owner I agree with you on this. You are already saving so much time going 200mph there was just no reason to pull what the twin did.

So this highlights the meaning of CTAF, where this is an airport where pilots talk to Each Other to coordinate their activities. All to often I get the impression as I listen long before entering the traffic pattern that too many pilots are broadcasting so that others listening will know to maintain separation. If you encounter such an individual, make sure they know that you know they are there and if they are not coordinating ask them outright "what are your intentions?" If they don't respond or press on with a poor excuse get the tail number and report. The radio traffic will back you up. If the traffic is making an ifr approach, make sure you let them know how you are going to give them precedence. The key is talk with the other pilots not just to them.

I still can't figure why ADS-B was showing the twin at 180kt at 3nm out, and he was still calling for full-stop. A lot of people speculated he was going to fly-by and showboat, but calling full-stop doesn't make any sense. I did my PPL in KWVI and saw my share of twins and turboprops that felt like they were above flying a pattern entry.

Hey Jason, hope all is well. This one still baffles me… the 340 was till planning a full stop doing 180 over the ground about 2 miles out? Straight in = not favorable as you suggest. But how was he ever going to land at that speed? This one hurts the heart.

I'm always ifr into o69 always joining the rnav 29 straight in, company requires I fly ifr and follow nav guidance.

Good radio communication could have prevented this accident. Sadly we can’t teach the ones gone to talk to each other and not race to the intersection of death. It appears more people are flying their planes like they drive cars. You have a great ground school app!! Just wish I could use it on the iPhone. ✌️

@Jason, thanks for this video. [ tl;dr... The position of the 340 was likely visually obscured by the Santa Cruz Mountains (height ~3700ft) behind it. ] I have been a student pilot at KWVI over the past 5+ years. I have paused during COVID-19, so take the following with a grain of salt. I have encountered the same situation (minus the other-pilot-engaging-warp-drive twist) numerous times at KWVI: I'm in the the traffic pattern, and another pilot is doing a straight-in approach. My CFI has instructed me to extend downwind in that situation. 2.5+ years since my last flight, one of my lingering memories is the difficulty I had spotting the straight-in pilots because they had descended low enough that the Santa Cruz Mountains were behind them. Picking out a plane masked by the SC mountains is significantly harder (for me anyway) than picking out a plane with a clear blue sky behind it.

90-66B also says aircraft in pattern shouldn’t cut off aircraft on straight in approaches…

Up here straight in approaches are frowned upon, I have done two in the last 30 years, one because of flaps stuck fully down in a 150 during practicing forced approaches in a training area, and the other just to get on the ground because of low flying military traffic that failed to see or hear us...and nearly hit us, flying a 300 feet just to stay under a cC130 at 800 Feet

Jason, I appreciate your frankness here. That said, I immediately clicked on this hoping you might have some input on what the student pilot might have done in terms of "defensive flying." My noob understanding is that the 152 pilot did nothing really wrong, but it seems like there are opportunities for pilots (students or not) where they could stack the odds in their favor. I get the impression that the 152 pilot, when he was on downwind didn't easily see how extremely fast the other plane was going straight-in, but might have extended the down wind to let the faster plane just blast on in. Once the 152 pilot turned to final, and could see how extremely fast the other plane was going, was there anything better he could have done at that point?

He had his PPL since 2020. Rest in peace 'Possum Stu'.

Totally agree with Jason. The pilot of the twin was probably the more experienced pilot and should have known better to fly straight in with other traffic in the pattern. I have personally communicated with pilots calling a long final into a pattern with 4 planes in it.

I have done straight in approaches before at non-towered airports. If I'm about 5nm out and I hear someone in pattern call base like that, Ima do a 360 or something to maintain good separation. If it's not reasonable for me to do that, then I'll increase altitude and enter pattern on the downwind. Poor kid though, I can't imagine how his instructor feels.

This accident reminded me of when I was new and had no idea what any other planes were. I didn’t know the call signs of a twin, jet etc.. Anything that would overtake me, I had to learn to listen of who and WHAT was in the pattern. I fly into a GA all the time with many different aircraft and I’m still learning aircraft types and how they will interact with me. I this case I most likely would have turned out from downwind into a 360 to avoid the twin. I can totally see how the student continued on as planned, but I agree the twin was way off base here.

When i flew the Lears and Aero commander jets i flew in the 1990's if traffic on downwind, i used to keep Vref on the whole approach so we could blend better. Some times i went to the upwind leg when 2 or more were on the downwind leg. Then flew a wider pattern than the smaller crafts. I was not an arseholle like that c340 liar doing 180 knots on approach. he was not going to land, was going to zoom the place instead. Illegal Zoom.

I agree with your comments; however, the standard midfield cross into a teardrop left downwind or midfield cross into a left downwind from a left upwind approach into the traffic pattern doesn't address this situation adequately. The 340 wasn't in the position to make a midfield crossing entry - or at least in the pilot's mind, this didn't seem to be an option as he was set on doing the extended, straight-in final. So the question should be would have entering in on an extended upwind, then flying the traffic pattern been a better adjustment or would have asking the Cessna 152 to fly an extended downwind and turning base after a visual of the 340 on final been better? Either way, the Cessna had the right of way being in the pattern, at pattern altitude and not on an extended final on the otherside of the Santa Cruz Mountain Range at an altitude of 4500' and 10NM out. Additionally, the pilot in the 340 was extremely relaxed on his radio calls; he made a call at 10NM when he was at 4500'. There were 5 calls made amongst 90FL, 931 and 9BE before 740WJ made another call at 3NM out - almost a full minute had passed since he made his last call at 10NM out. This is unacceptable when you are traveling as fast as the 340 was with the presumed level of experience this pilot had with having a MEL rating (or we assume this was the case). We all remember being "behind the plane" as a student pilot practicing pattern/landing work, making radio calls, setting-up the plane, flying pattern altitude, establishing proper decent/base turn/ final, etc. Who knows whether or not the student pilot was able to even comprehend and digest the not-so-brief transmission of the 740WJ at 10NM out and then not hearing anything additionally for another minute time and 7NMs traveled. MAKE MORE RADIO CALLS STATING POSITION, ALTITUDE, DIRECTION FROM A POINT AND INTENDED ACTION. Ridiculous, sad and unfortunate.

It’s high performance aircraft syndrome. I’ve had to “get out of the way” from numerous twins and turboprops because they seem to feel the traffic pattern is not meant for them.

A simple conversation is all it would have taken to make sure both are on the same page. Pilot in S/E Cessna: Hey where you at..ok then I’ll just extend my downwind and come in behind you” or Pilot in Twin Cessna: “Aircraft in the pattern I’m coming in on extended final do you mind if I get in front of you? NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING IN AVIATION

Very good summary! And yes…though both pilots made errors, the 340 pilot’s performance was just abysmal. Part of the issue is the way we teach traffic pattern entry. An upwind entry is perfectly legitimate but the FAA just won’t acknowledge that and therefore it is not taught. At least they finally acknowledged that a mid field cross wind is acceptable in their recent AC. Yikes! How long did that take! An upwind entry is viable alternative when entering the pattern from the upwind side and functionally provides the same separation as full circuit touch and goes or stop and goes with crosswind and upwind pattern legs. The 340 could easily have side stepped into an up wind leg then crosswind to downwind to base then final.

More and more I look at this, it doesn’t even look like an accident 😢 twin could have shot Cessna out of the sky with missile and I’d it would be equally as bad. As more experienced guy in fast plane, you hear a nervous student trying to avoid you… what are you thinking????? What is there even to investigate ??? This is just heart wrenching

I agree, the person on strait in approach should have made a complete traffic pattern circuit.