Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Cessna 180H, N180HR: Pilot blames Reno air traffic tower for near crash. Accident occurred September 16, 2011 in Reno, Nevada.


About an hour before the deadly crash at the Reno Air Races, a single-engine plane was hit by a strong gust while landing at Reno-Tahoe International Airport that caused him to spin when he hit the ground, damaging its left wing.

The pilot, Leon Roberts, 62, said he received bogus information about the winds from the Air Traffic Control Tower. And after he and one other plane almost crashed, controllers finally moved planes to a different runway.

“I think they knew they screwed up,” said Roberts of Noxon, Montana.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident and its report on the probable cause is scheduled to be released next week.

Ian Gregor. a Los Angeles-based spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, declined to comment on the incident and the pilot’s claims.

“I can’t comment on any incident investigation until the NTSB has released its probable cause report.”

Brian Kulpin, spokesman for the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, said the operations team remembers the incidents, but said they could not comment until the NTSB releases its report.

In addition, all decisions by the Air Traffic Control Tower are the responsibility of the FAA, he said.

The crash at the Reno National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport occurred at about 4:26 p.m. on Sept. 16. Eleven people, including the pilot, died and about 70 were injured.

At 2:50 p.m., Roberts was landing his Cessna 180 to the south at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, and was told through an automated report put out by the tower that the winds were at 250 degrees -- from the west -- at about 15 mph.

But after his near-crash, Roberts said he was told that the winds actually were coming from about 280 degrees -- a sharper angle -- at about 22 mph.

The National Weather Service said Tuesday that the winds at the airport were actually gusting up to 30 mph at about 2:55 p.m. on Sept. 16.

With winds that high, the tower should have moved all landing planes from runways 16L and 16R to runway 34, Roberts said.

“The actual winds were considerably higher than what I was told,” Robert said. “Sixteen should never have been used. You never land in a tailwind. That’s flying 101. You always land into the wind.”

“They were landing aircraft for over an hour with a tailwind and never said anything about it.”

Not only were the winds hitting the planes from behind, they actually were coming in at an angle from behind, which is called a “rear quartering tailwind” and is all the more dangerous, he said.

Moments before his Cessna landed and spun around on runway 16R, another plane on runway 16L suffered a similar fate, he said. Yet the tower did not warn Roberts of the difficult conditions, he said.

“They should have changed to runway 34 over an hour before I got there,” he said. “Immediately after I landed they switched to 34. They had two planes that had incidents.

“Something was wrong in that tower,” he added. “This thing was not right. I hope the NTSB reaches that conclusion.”

His plane’s left wing and elevator were damaged, he said. They later were repaired and he flew home.

Roberts filled out a report for the NTSB that details his concerns. The NTSB Website says the final report is estimated to be released on Dec. 13.
NTSB Identification: WPR11CA455
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, September 16, 2011 in Reno, NV
Aircraft: CESSNA 180H, registration: N180HR
Injuries: 3 Uninjured.
Full narrative available


The pilot reported that during landing on runway 16R, in the tailwheel equipped airplane, he encountered a strong gust of wind. The airplane veered and subsequently ground looped. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and elevator. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane.



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