KAVX - Catalina Island, twin-engine Beechcraft crash 5 dead

[Barrett50]

The hump in the middle is such a strange thing for a runway. Is that a grandfathered standard?

Yes. When the airport was first built, they graded from the middle to the ends. They decided not to grade it perfectly flat, or perfectly level. It slopes 2.x deg up to the SW and it has a very noticeable crown. On takeoff either direction but more to the SW, the runway 'appears' to grow longer with forward motion.

For me, it makes me itchy to rotate early. I've heard this from other pilots taking off as well. There's no reason not to just accelerate to proper Vr speed, but it's common to pull it off too early and get into the reverse command(back side of power curve) region, where further rotation causes more drag, and no acceleration. For those that fly into AVX, on takeoff make sure to monitor your ASI and don't worry, there's more runway ahead of you than appears while rolling. This is even more pronounced after dark.

 

[bbchien]

Machias, ME has the same situation: makes it "Day VFR only" for me, shortfield setup every time.

 

[ElPaso Pilot]

The hump in the middle is such a strange thing for a runway. Is that a grandfathered standard?

Private airport, on a leveled mountaintop, following terrain.

If you don't accept FAA funding, you can do pretty much do whatever you want to your own airstrip.

"Catalina Island was developed as a tourist site beginning in the 1920s by William Wrigley Jr., who owned most of the island under the Santa Catalina Island Company. In 1941 his son Philip K. Wrigley among others including Charles Hulen Moore built a runway on the island by blasting and leveling two hills and filling the canyon between them to create a leveled area."​

Catalina Airport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

​

 

[AquaLand]

With the release of the 5th victim’s name (37 F), here’s a summary of the accident aircraft’s occupants:

73 M, ATP AMEL, COM ASEL, CFI, GI, CE500 type, 2C med 7/24
37 F, COM ASEL/AMEL, Instrument rating, CFI, GI, 1C med 7/22
33 M, PP ASEL, Instrument rating, 1C med 11/20
55 F, student pilot, 3C med 4/24
34 M, student pilot, no med info

The stranded aircraft was N116FR, a PA28R.

An interesting statement made by the airport manager (also a pilot): while the Baron owner didn’t have permission to depart after sunset, what he did wasn’t illegal. Given that the chart sup explicitly states night time ops are prohibited, how is a night time departure not a 91.13 violation?

 

[MauleSkinner]

An interesting statement made by the airport manager (also a pilot): while the Baron owner didn’t have permission to depart after sunset, what he did wasn’t illegal. Given that the chart sup explicitly states night time ops are prohibited, how is a night time departure not a 91.13 violation?

The chart supplement isn’t regulatory. It basically becomes an off-airport operation, and the FAA doesn’t regulate that.

The property owner could pursue action, but it wouldn’t be through the FAA.

 

[Hengelo]

Learned something today.

The chart supplement isn’t regulatory. It basically becomes an off-airport operation, and the FAA doesn’t regulate that.

The property owner could pursue action, but it wouldn’t be through the FAA.

 

[ahmad]

Terrible. AVX is one of of my favorite airports to visit. It's awful reading about well experienced pilots making such poor decisions.