I have been in the pilot seat with issues just like this but you can not run into something and then blame it on the park car. I was in Alaska last winter doing ski flying with a cub and a guy at Merrill Field had blocked the taxi way into the hangar, I probably could have squeak through but it was not worth the risk so I shut down and pulled the airplane through, (no starter) hand prop it again, this was my 3rd shut down since landing on the ski strip so it was getting old.

Sorry..airports, taxiways, ramps are for airplanes..not for vehicles! Some people park on the ramp in the way of general aviation traffic just because they might have to make a few extra steps...and refuse to move!..just burns my ass!!
Seems at our litttle airport when a charter jet comes in, folks just park any damned place they please. I've taxied from my hangar and in from landing and have had to shut down, get out of the plane and ask them to move their vehicles all while they just stand and look at me. Same way with the way some people park airplanes. I don't have a solution to your incident but when I park I try to stay out of any possible way of moving aircraft, then if someone were to hit my vehicle they would have to go out of their way to hit it. Help me if I'm wrong but is not the moving vehicle (airplane, motorcycle, horse,car, truck) responsible for the damage?

Look at it like the Air Force does, I know you have been in longer than I have and have more experience with them. It is ALWAYS the fault of the aircrew when something goes wrong. The marshaller turns you too early and you scrape a wingtip on a blast fence? Aircrew's fault for not ensuring proper clearance. Have a truck pull behind you when taxiing out and damage the vehicle? Aircrew's fault for not making sure nothing was back there. There is a story about the crew driver here at Randolph plowing into the back of a T-6 and trashing the stab, and she didn't even get a slap on the wrist. If a T-6 had grazed the truck with a wingtip, better believe it would have been a Q-3. In the end, it is ultimately and ALWAYS the responsibility of the PIC to ensure the proper and safe operation of the aircraft, regardless of the situation. Stop the airplane, make sure you can get by(or make it so you can get by), then keep on taxiing.

AvidFlyer wrote:Sorry about the age thing but you guys are taking it out of context. We all know guys at our airports that probably shouldn't still be flying just like the ones who shouldn't be driving.

Dirtstrip's comment, and the one above, has truth to it. This has been a big issue for our flying club. For someone that owns their own aircraft, I hope that either the pilot himself or someone in their life will recognize when it is time to hang it up. For us, it is also about protecting everyone's aircraft. We have had a couple of members, one of whom I kid you not wore Life Alert, that we would cringe every time he was on the schedule. Two had their own folder in the tower. Our president finally just pulled one member a side and told him that he could still fly, but he'd have to fly with a CFI. It wasn't just the potential liability or insurance fallout from an accident, but what really made us cringe was when he'd pack his grandkids in for a flight. He was well past the point where he should have retired from flying. Luckily, we have had others that saw that it was time and were grateful for the years of flying that they were able to enjoy.

Because of all of this, I have mixed feelings on the AOPA self-evaluating proposal. In my opinion, it does present the possibility that a person that otherwise might have been denied a medical will be able to continue to fly. A removal of a safeguard of sort. But it also would be a benefit to others. I'm not sure what the answer is. We all will get to the point of reduced mental and physical capability. I just hope that we all will be able to recognize when to pack it in when we should, or have someone in our lives to help us see that it is time.

I'm a firm believer that if you're behind the controls of a machine whether it's a plane, car, boat, truck, crane, RC or whatever you should be in control, yes If you hit a stationary object while in "control" of said machine and the object you hit had been stationary and unmanned not moving wasn't going to move and you saw it that way and you controlled your machine into said object, then I believe you should be responsible for your actions

That's why we buy insurance, if you don't you should be financially responsible as in, pay for your damage to others property. If you cannot control or pay or have insurance, you shouldn't operate the machine. If you loose control by accident or negligence you hope the insurance kicks in.

Now the guy that hit your truck with his plane is supposed to report his accident to the FAA or NTSB
Pretty simple

The outcome for the incident in question would have been the same with the new self-eval proposal in place (and here I refer directly to my original posted tongue in cheek comment). I don't believe this is a situation that can be addressed under the heading of third class medical. Considering the wide range of replies posted some saw it differently but in my opinion it was just a question of poor judgement and no follow through contact after the hit. I would have made contact with the other party too after the fact regardless who was at fault and then got shouted at by an A hole. We all can agree that particular quality in a person affects one's judgement.

+1 Emory Bored...

I don't get. Why is Emory giving CPR to that dead horse with a stick?

dirtstrip wrote:I don't get. Why is Emory giving CPR to that dead horse with a stick?

He's not. It's laying on his foot!

Don't I get a turn with the stick?

lc

Or is that a meat tenderizer?

I spent some time with the buffer and my whole shelf of goodies today and took care of most of the damage to the paint of my truck. If I didn't have fender flares on it the damage would have been much worse. I want to keep the peace around my hangar row so the issue is closed. Guess I'll start 4 bying my truck into the field anytime I go to my hangar since cars don't belong at airports.

I'm with you Joey. If a pilot can't move his plane with out hitting trucks or anything else that is not moving, find another another hobby.

On the other hand if it is a bo bo and the pilot says sorry and pays for the damage, then shit happens. Doesn't sound like this guy did that. Also sounds like he doesn't have any integrity. IMHO of course.

G'Day

My first car -- a '66 VW Beetle -- was taken out in 1969 by a C-172 flown by a newly-minted private pilot who botched a go-around at Fullerton CA. I was flying my dad's C-150E, and my car was parked at the tiedown spot. Had I not been flying, the 150 would have gotten it instead of the VW. The 172 hit my car, then went through the perimeter fence and into the street, where it hit another car.

AvidFlyer wrote:...Guess I'll start 4 bying my truck into the field anytime I go to my hangar since cars don't belong at airports.

Found a stick so I'll give that horse another lick or two....
Maybe I came off wrong, I didn't mean to say that the pilot who hit your rig with his airplane was not at fault. I just meant to emphasize that a lot of people do park their auto's (and motorcycles, quads, & even airplanes) in such a fashion that airplanes have a helluva time taxiing by. And that maybe we should all stop & devote an extra second to consider where we parked & how it could impact others. I know a guy who continually parked in the way at my airport-- he always said, "if it's in the way I'll be glad to move it" and he would. But he kinda missed the point-- why should everyone else always be forced to wait on him when he coulda just parked outa the way to begin with?
Sorry to keep grinding on this, but it's kind of a pet peeve of mine due to the same people doing this shit over & over again at my airport.

At the risk of holding the stick some more, I think it's just a matter of having respect for one another. While there is plenty of space between the rows of hangars at GXY where I hangar my airplane now that cars can be parked next to the hangars and not interfere with taxiing, at Downtown Fort Collins (now closed), the rows were too close together to allow safe movement, if vehicles were parked on both sides, and barely enough room if a vehicle was on just one side. But often people would have their cars there. Yet I can't remember a single time when it caused a problem, because if I was pulling my airplane out of the hangar, I could count on the owners of the parked vehicles to temporarily move them while I taxied out, without being asked, and if I was taxiing in, the sound of my engine would alert them, and they would again move the vehicles while I stopped and idled for only a few seconds. Some cliches come to mind, but really it's just the Golden Rule--treat others as you'd like to be treated.

FWIW, I think the pink Comanche driver was totally in the wrong for not owning up to his own mistake. "I'm sorry" goes a long way.

Cary

This story continues...... a few weeks back our airport was closed for 3 days while they re-painted all the lines. It was notam'd, X'd, and PLENTY of notice was given via mailings and word of mouth for a several weeks prior to the closure. Two days ago at work a guy that hangars out there was telling me a story about a guy who came in while it was closed and was trying to land. Two different people were on the radio telling him the rwy was closed and to go someplace else. The pilot kept arguing and insisted he was landing. The guy ended up landing on the taxiway with men and equipment on an Xed out runway. On top of all of that he landed gear up!!! Yesterday I was out at my hangar and I wandered down to the maintenance hangar to see what was going on. The first thing I seen was a HOT PINK commanche with the engine pulled. It was up on a lift and I quickly noticed the bottom of it was all scraped up. It took me a second to put two and two together.

Yup same guy that taxied into my truck a month ago landed on a taxiway of a closed airport with two different people telling him to go away.... gear up. If that is the kind of judgement he uses while flying that's pretty damn scary if you ask me. I talked to one of the guys who was on the radio with him and they said you could hear the gear warning horn in the background every time he transmitted to argue that he was supposed to land there.

If it's ok for senators to do land at closed airports why can't he?

Hmm... This guy?

Maybe he'll get the "attention" that he seems to deserve...

Looks like the report to me. From what I heard the airport staff wasn't about to cover this one up. It go quite a bit of attention.