This occured in the US, when landing into a sunset. Poor video (apart from being portrait, which seems to be sooo trendy these days) but you can see what likely happened
Both Compton and nearby Hawthorne late in the day like this with the sun right in front of you will almost always show up all the creases and scratches in the windscreens. Milks out completely. Landed a 172RG a few years back where I literally could not see anything. At least at HHR it’s controlled and the tower separates you, but at Compton you’re on your own.
Very sad affair.
Really sad…
It’s actually the same for all the coastal airports here in SoCal. Landing into the setting sun, especially if it’s hazy, is like flying into a milky wall. I’ve gone around more than once, as I simply couldn’t see the runway. Luckily, most of these airports are towered. Wonder if the guy who landed second waited for the ‘clear of the active’ call by the preceding airplane. Most likely not…..
Is this legit? Looks like many fake videos online…
Bigger version
Yes, it is very sad. It was reported in Avweb, so is almost surely legit.
It would be interesting to hear the radio communication, if any, given that the airfield is uncontrolled. This type of thing should really not happen if both pilots are talking and listening properly. I suspect that this is a classic case of not communicating.
At the grass strip where I operate, if I call joining downwind, for example, and not mention seeing another aircraft ahead that has already reported downwind (which I would normally do), then the other aircraft will pipe right up and ask me if I have him in sight….. if I don’t then there is an exchange until we are both clear about separation.
chflyer wrote:
I suspect that this is a classic case of not communicating.
I agree. I don’t fly much to non-towered airfields, but in general the radio calls here are pretty good and you work out any conflict (e.g. vastly different approach speeds) in the air. Someone either wasn’t talking or not listening (and understanding!) in this – very sad – scenario.
The scuttlebutt from other sites is that the T28 was not on the radio (although it’s entirely possible that the wrong frequency was set). There will surely be an NTSB report in due course.
