While landing on a frozen lake near Hortonville, Wisconsin, the pilot observed a van at the end of the plowed airstrip.
He didn’t know the driver’s intention and decided to steer the Van’s RV-4 off the plowed area into the snow to slow the airplane before getting close to the van.
The right tire hit a frozen obstruction and the airplane turned right and nosed down.
Substantial damage was sustained to an engine mount and the lower firewall.
The pilot stated that he did not realize that the snow at the edge was so frozen and deep.
Probable Cause: The loss of direction control while maneuvering off the plowed surface to avoid a collision with a vehicle.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This January 2022 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Yes, I can tell you why the driver of the “van” drove on to the “plowed runway” because he did not know any better or either did not see any sign indicating that it was a “active runway” or none was posted, or just ignored the sign(s) if there were some! Either way “dumb” on his part!
He should have driven out of the way where by letting the pilot know his intentions and the accident would have been avoided.
Could the pilot having notice the van in time apply full power and make a “go-around? You knows! Lessons learned on both their parts!
The van driver owes the pilot.
Why do people drive on runways? Because they’re unaware of the potential danger of maybe an airplane could come in for a landing while they’re driving on the runway — i.e., stupid. Sometimes there’s no avoiding fate — it just pops up in front of you.
Regards/J
Read all the NTSB report stuff. The pilot didn’t report seeing this white van until he was on the runway. He had flown the pattern….
Since the vehicle precipitated this, was the driver asked why they drove onto the lake to the plowed runway area with a plane in the pattern? I didn’t see anything about that in the report.
And yes, what the pilot suggested as a better course of action was more of a reasonable choice, in my mind, and that is continue on the ruway, toward the van, to lose as much speed (momentum) as he could before having to go off the side of the plowed runway. Probably would have been damage, but not all the damage he now has to fix (overhaul an engine, replace a prop, fix the engine mount, etc. etc.).
Why do people drive vehicles across runways, with aircraft in the pattern for landing?