AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2024 - 78

The non-instrument-rated
private pilot has approximately
800 flight hours, and his last four
flights have been the same route
that he is flying this evening. He
often flies to A39 for fuel, then flies
home. It's a clear VFR night and
after departing at about 8 p.m., the
pilot flies south-southeast toward
the Phoenix Sky Harbor Class B
airspace, and he's cleared through
the airspace at 4,500 feet. Another
aircraft, a Piper PA-28, is inbound
to A39 just ahead of the Zenair with
the same idea-to get some cheap
fuel. The PA-28 pilot can hear the
Zenair pilot talking to ATC and
can see his position on his cockpit
ADS-B receiver. As both airplanes
approach the nontowered field,
they make radio calls to determine
one another's position as they both
prepare to enter a downwind for
Runway 22.
The PA-28 is still ahead of the
Zenair, but even so, the Zenair
descends and proceeds to fly over
the Ak-Chin Regional Airport at
8:21 p.m., now at only 2,000 feet
msl-700 feet agl-which is lower
than the traffic pattern altitude
(TPA) for the field. The PA-28
pilot, who is on a left downwind,
notices how low the other aircraft
is and is worried about spacing.
He keeps a tight pattern, turning
inbound for Runway 22 earlier
than he otherwise would have. As
the PA-28 pilot reports that he's
on final, the Zenair pilot calls that
he is on base. What the Piper pilot
doesn't know, though, is that the
Zenair is flying much wider and
much lower than him and is in fact
a couple of miles away even as the
PA-28 pilot prepares to land.
After landing, the PA-28 taxis
to the fuel island and waits to
watch the Zenair land. It is now
" very dark, with just a faint hint
of blue on the horizon. " To the
east of the field, the terrain in this
unpopulated area is indiscernible.
The skies are too quiet and after
78
AOPA PILOT / September 2024
ASI's Night Flying
Accident Analysis
Review insightful research,
analysis, and recommendations
for improving night flying
safety in this report from
the AOPA Air Safety Institute.
airsafetyinstitute.org/
NightFlying
several minutes of seemingly no
traffic in the pattern, the pilot
calls flight service to report the
overdue aircraft.
The Zenair pilot flew with a
SPOT tracker. Rescue services
seek out its last known position and
discover the aircraft about 2 miles
from the runway threshold, where
it had encountered an isolated
1,735-foot hill. The wreckage is
located approximately 10 feet
below the peak; the pilot did not
survive. The NTSB lists the
probable cause as the pilot's " loss of
situational awareness and descent
below pattern altitude during the
landing approach, which resulted
in collision with terrain at night. "
Retrospective
This was a familiar flight to the
accident pilot, and it is possible
that his comfort with the route led
to complacency. He had flown in
the area for years, and specifically
had flown this exact route on his
most recent flights. This was his
backyard, and he probably thought
he knew it like the back of his hand,
which could have minimized his
perception of risk.
Night flights are by nature
higher risk, and arguably one of
the biggest influences on this flight
was that it was at night. Humans
are daytime creatures, and in
the darkness, we are simply not
as adapted to the environment.
Especially affected is, of course,
our vision. Even on clear nights,
it can be impossible to distinguish
terrain features. This is especially
a factor in less populated areas like
near Ak-Chin Regional Airport,
where there is limited ambient city
lighting, or over water.
Deer Valley Airport, the pilot's
home base, is a busy Class D
airport underlying the Phoenix
Class B airspace. Ak-Chin
Regional is a nontowered field in
an unpopulated area. Even though
the pilot flew to Ak-Chin often,
the majority of his experience
was in controlled airspace, where
ATC provides spacing. Having the
PA-28 in the pattern with him,
especially so close that they were
essentially entering downwind
at the same time, may have been
something he was not used to,
and his resulting modifications to
give the PA-28 time to clear the
runway were not standard.
Standard operating procedures
when preparing to land are critical
for several reasons, one of which
is to allow smooth and expected
flow into an airport. In this case,
to provide separation, the Zenair
pilot decided to expand his pattern
and flew a round, looping route
that was well outside the standard
square racetrack and below the
TPA. While it was a good idea to
modify his pattern to allow more
spacing, the way that he did it was
not appropriate. Another way he
could have modified his pattern
would have been to remain above
TPA and fly the traffic pattern at
a higher altitude as he descended
while the PA-28 landed. He also
could have done a few three-sixties
to provide more spacing. He could
have even briefly departed the area,
orbited away from the field, and
http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/nightflylng http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/nightflylng
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2024

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