Cary wrote:As I took off on 15, which everyone was using because the wind was from the south, a "furrin" helicopter announced that he was on final for 33--apparently paying no attention that 15 was the "active" runway--yeah, he was legal (there is no "active" at a non-towered airport), but stupid. Had I not turned out as soon as I saw him, I wouldn't be writing this, because obviously he was concentrating on either shooting the ILS or just coming in to land, but not on oncoming traffic (and yeah, I did announce departing on 15).
Yeah, I had a similar experience at a non-towered airport not too long ago. There were six airplanes in the pattern, and everyone was doing a pretty good job of keeping each other in sight, and maintaining separation... Until some clown calls with the "any traffic please advise", which one kind soul responds to with "There are six airplane in the pattern, landing 18. Keep your eyes peeled." A few minutes later, Clown announces that he is on a 1/2 mile straight-in for landing 36 (which had about 20-knots of tailwind). The guy lifting off made a hard right and flew directly over the school yard at less than 100 feet. The guy who was head-on with Clown on short final panicked, turning left directly into the conflicting traffic on downwind (3 planes). Planes scattered all over as everyone tried to avoid everyone else. Clown continued on, landed, and went to the fuel pump. I was just turning base at the time, and didn't really need any fuel, but I landed and taxied over to have a polite discussion with Clown.
I asked him how his radio was working, and he said "Fine." I asked him if he had heard the other six airplanes that were in the traffic pattern, all landing on runway 18, and he said "There was so much radio traffic I couldn't make heads or tails out of it, so I just did the straight in and landed to get out of everybody's way as quickly as possible." I very politely (no, seriously - I was VERY polite) let him know about the airplane that was taking off and had to bail out to the right, and the other one on short final who turned into the pattern, and the complete chaos that resulted from what had been a nice, orderly pattern. He made one of those "not-an-apology apologies", but he was clearly unconcerned, and it was obvious that he felt he had done nothing wrong. (Or possibly that it was better everyone else besides him was inconvenienced...)
By this time, I was getting close to being "less than polite" to him, but instead turned to the person flying with him, and asked "Are you a pilot?" The answer was "Yes." I then asked him his opinion of what he had just heard. He was quiet for a few seconds, then he said "I think we screwed up big time, and put a lot of people in danger for no good reason." I asked him what he planned to do if he found himself in the exact same situation in the future, and he said "I'll speak up next time. I knew we were doing it wrong, but didn't want to say anything..."
At that point, I just nodded, shook the "co-pilot's" hand, and said "Well, at least ONE person learned something that could save some lives next time..." and walked away. Clown just stood there, looking at me like I had two heads... That guy is an accident waiting to happen...
