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Heads Up, Eyes Front!

The ramp is no place for complacency
BY DAVE JACK KENNY
The more familiar the situation, the easier it is to become complacent. That unfortunate
psychological shortcut's reflected in every automobile driver you see talking on the telephone
or, worse, staring at the screen as one potential head-on collision after another hurtles past at
a combined 150 mph. (And if you're one of them, shame on you! The odds are that nothing you
do in the air is as dangerous as driving on a moderately busy two-lane road, but we hope you
don't check your text messages while flying approaches in actual IMC.)
This is what makes ramps and taxiways particularly vulnerable to the kinds of accidents that
are rarely fatal but always embarrassing. With dozens of aircraft in close proximity, some with
rotors, propellers, or turbine blades spinning, what could possibly go wrong? Well, nothing-
provided all those pilots are paying close attention to what their own machines are doing while
also keeping an eye on what's going on around them.
A running engine produces thrust that shoves the machine to which it's mounted forward (last
time we checked, that was the point), and jet blast, rotor wash, and whirling blades threaten any
children, passengers, or pets that might have gotten loose in the vicinity. A two-person crew can
afford to have one pilot heads-down while the other scans for conflicts, but if you're operating solo,
most of your attention needs to be outside the cockpit as long as moving parts continue to move.
A relatively mild case in point occurred at Florida's Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport at about
12:30 p.m. on August 13, 2016. A 74-year-old, 1,985-hour private pilot had just cleared customs
after arriving from the Bahamas. He started the engines of his 1980 Piper Seneca II (PA-34200T), set the parking brake, and bent forward to set up his radios. Ahead of him, also on the
customs ramp, the 35-year-old pilot and 23-year-old copilot of a 1974-model Cessna Citation I
(CE-500) had just returned to the cockpit from their own visit to the customs office and closed
the cabin door. The NTSB report describes the Citation as "Standing-engine(s) not oper,"
but this being midday in a Florida summer, it's a pretty good bet that the APU was running to
power the air conditioning.

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As the Citation's crew talked, its pilot suddenly "felt the airplane shaking and [heard] a loud
noise all at the same time. I looked out the window (right side) and saw an aircraft with its
propeller hitting our wing...Someone had just run their aircraft into our parked aircraft."

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For his part, the Seneca pilot was notable for his reticence. His description of the accident on
the Form 6120-1 was merely "After engines started, the airplane rolled forward striking another
aircraft." He also told investigators "that he was unaware of the airplane's forward movement
and...thought that the hand brake was fully engaged."

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Damage to both airplanes was mercifully light. The Citation's right wing tip, strobe, and
nav light assembly were chewed up by the Seneca's left propeller. That propeller sustained
"nicks" to the blades, a crushed left spinner, and the engine to which it was attached no
doubt received a mandated tear-down inspection. The scene photographs make it hard to
believe that its right propeller avoided contact with the Citation's fuselage, but neither Form
6120-1 nor the NTSB's finding of probable cause cited any damage to the fuselage or prop.
The Seneca's pilot-or insurance company-presumably thanked aviation's deities, since a
compromise of the Citation's pressure vessel coupled with a second engine teardown and
propeller repair or replacement would have made this claim vastly more expensive.
At the top of page 10, the Form 6120-1 invites the respondent to offer "RECOMMENDATION
(How could this accident/incident have been prevented?)" The Seneca's pilot left this item
blank. The Citation's pilot only suggested "Better situational awareness." That's hard to argue
with, if only because better situational awareness is generally desirable, but it would have
sounded better coming from the pilot of the Seneca. It's hard to see what the Citation's crew,
sitting in their parked airplane, could have done to avoid the collision. Even if they'd had a horn
to blow, the Seneca pilot probably wouldn't have heard it over the engine noise and through
his headset. Flashing the jet's landing lights might have caught his attention-but only if he'd
lifted his gaze enough to see them.
Most airplane pilots are probably guilty of having let their craft creep forward during run-up
at least once. That should serve as a powerful reminder of the need to be heads up and eyes
front any time the mills are turning, but in the comfortingly benign environment of the ramp,
it's still easy to forget.

- David Jack Kenny is a freelance writer and statistician.

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