Posted on 05/13/2021 10:33:23 AM PDT by Red Badger
Edited on 05/13/2021 10:49:22 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
This image from CBS Denver shows a Key Lime Air Metroliner that landed safely at Centennial Airport after a mid-air collision near Denver on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Federal officials say two airplanes collided but that there are no injuries. The collision between a twin-engine Fairchild Metroliner and a single-engine Cirrus SR22 happened as both planes were landing, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Key Lime Air, which owns the Metroliner, says its aircraft sustained substantial damage to the tail section but that the pilot was able to land safely.
(Excerpt) Read more at khon2.com ...
A “Bring me my brown pants” incident for all aboard.
It’s real easy to overshoot 17R into the approach path of 17L. The runways are very close together. It is not uncommon for 17R traffic to execute 30° or more of bank to keep that from happening. It is one the “hot spots” the FAA constantly identifies as a problem area at Centennial.
As a pilot friend of mine says: Any landing you can walk away from is a successful landing.
Years ago in S. CA (I think at Van Nuys Airport) a Low Wing Piper came down on top of a High Wing Cessna on approach.
The Propeller of the Piper cut through the rear fuselage of the Cessna severing the control cables. The Cessna went in nose first. I think the Pilot of the Piper survived.
“A miss is a miss.
A “near miss” is a collision.”
Near miss (safety)
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“Close call” redirects here. For the film, see Close Call.
A near miss, “near hit”, “close call”, or “nearly a collision” is an unplanned event that has the potential to cause, but does not actually result in human injury, environmental or equipment damage, or an interruption to normal operation.[citation needed]
OSHA defines a near miss as an incident in which no property was damaged and no personal injury was sustained, but where, given a slight shift in time or position, damage or injury easily could have occurred. Near misses also may be referred to as close calls, near accidents, accident precursors, injury-free events and, in the case of moving objects, near collisions.[citation needed]
A near miss is often an error, with harm prevented by other considerations and circumstances.[1]
The phrase “near miss” should not be confused with the phrase “nearly a miss” which would imply a collision.
“Sounds like one plane tried to land on another.”
Broadside. Wing took out part of tail.
That’s fair. Glad everyone is OK.
Ah, see I have this very bad habit of commenting without reading the articles. :-) So it wasn’t on just above the runway but actually “mid air” so to speak. Wow. Again glad everyone landed safely.
Juan Brown did a real good analysis on his channel this morning. It appears the Cirrus was second in line with a plane ahead making a right pattern for 17R. The Metroliner was on long final for 17L. The controller called out traffic to the Cirrus referencing both aircraft, but it’s possible the Cirrus didn’t see the Metroliner on the straight-in approach.
It also doesn’t help the thresholds are staggered and the runways are of different lengths. I’ll bet the pilot of the Cirrus never saw the Metroliner and was just a little sloppy in his turn to final for 17R.
Juan had the radar track up on his site with the ATC overlay. Both GA aircraft made a wide turn to 17R and intruded on the approach to 17L.
Fortunately, they are both alive to learn from the accident. Another possible contributor was the controller who wasn’t very clear in his traffic call outs to the Cirrus. He seemed to be preoccupied or was just going through the motions. His radio traffic seemed less than professional.
Just my two-cents.
I’ve heard that bit about a near miss being a collision too many times. You are correct; a near miss is still a miss, but it’s called a near miss to distinguish it from a wide miss.
If you can use the plane again, it is a great landing
That would be about right. It isn’t hard to overshoot 17R when the wind is howling. Speed control is also a significant issue on 17R to be able to turn without crossing into 17L traffic. Seeing metro is would be also hard, so unless the Cirrus called that they saw it, the tower controller should have asked them to continue downwind until the traffic was seen or had passed.
We get a lot of ATC trainees at the airport. Some of them are terrible AA hires.
According to the ATC traffic, the winds were light. In looking at the approach plate, I’m surprised there haven’t been more mid-airs at this airport. It looks like 17L is a 10,000 foot runway that is used for commercial traffic and 17R is about 7500’ runway that is staggered forward of 17L’s threshold and in close proximity to 17L. It also appears it is used primarily by GA aircraft. Both flights were VFR approach and I can imagine the Cirrus driver was more concerned about the GA aircraft in front of him rather than the Metro on a long final.
If you look at the radar overlay, the accident was almost inevitable. Both aircraft, because of speed, were closing on the same point at the same time. You’re right, the controller should have extended the Cirus’ downwind leg before allowing him to turn base. It looks like the accident occurred as the Cirrus was turning from base to final.
You also answered another question I was thinking as it sounded like the controller didn’t have the crisp,staccato delivery of others I have heard. I was wondering if this was a training facility.
In spite of everything, it was good the Metro was a freighter with only a single pilot and the Cirrus had a ballistic parachute system. Otherwise, there would be 3 families grieving over what looks like a preventable mid-air.
I am surprised the Metro flight had only one pilot. I love the chute systems on Cirrus and think it should become standard equipment, not that aviation isn’t already ridiculously expensive.
Center line to center line is only 700 feet between those two runways, about 3 seconds of a margin for error before incursion results.
What were the winds aloft at the time, if you found that? You’d need to check 6,000 feet.
Juan Brown (airline pilot flies in right seat 777) does an excellent job describing the incident.
The bigger plane was on a long final to the LEFT runway. The Cirus was downwind on the right, shorter field when he turned base and possibly was turning final for the LEFT runway when he should have turned final for RIGHT earlier.
It was obviously the Cirrus aircraft's pilot's fault from what was presented. The ATC had alerted the Cirus pilot to both traffic but there may have been confusion on his part.
A student pilot doing HIS FIRST SOLO was following the Cirrus and will always have a good story about his FIRST SOLO!
That youtube only has a 12 minute commercial.
I would NEVER fly airline named Key Lime.
From what I’ve heard the operator handles freight only for UPS I believe. They are a one-pilot operation, no autopilot, the workload is fairly intense.
If you listen to the ATC conversation, the metro pilot thinks he has a right engine failure. He does the right thing by continuing to fly the airplane. I believe he starts the engine out protocol, but being so close to the runway, correctly lands the airplane. Incredibly calm demeanor.
The Cirrus pilot immediately deploys the ballistic parachute. There is another aircraft in the pattern (student pilot-first solo) who communicates with the tower where the Cirrus comes down.
As for winds aloft, I haven’t heard anything. The ATC autio just has the controller giving both aircraft clearances to land with the comment of “light” wind.
There was also a callout by an unidentified aircraft during the incident of a hawk sitting between the two runways. The controller repeats this for the benefit of the Cirrus and the metro, but by then it was probably too late and certainly doesn’t appear to be a factor.
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