Plane Crash in Novato, California at Gnoss Field Airport

If I remember correctly the wetlands are a couple thousand feet from the end of the runway, any word on whether it was landing or taking off?
 
Threefingeredjack said:
If I remember correctly the wetlands are a couple thousand feet from the end of the runway, any word on whether it was landing or taking off?
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I'll ask this weekend when I see the locals. The guy I was with in Petaluma got a call from his wife almost immediately so it must have been on TV or something. All my pilot friends were mad about the way the article was written (the birds).
 
"A small plane crashed in Novato Saturday afternoon, landing upside down in some marshland near Gnoss Field and injuring the pilot"

He landed upside down!? This is the danger of people trying to do what they see in the movies. Although, it seems more likely he landed right-side up and the upside down part happened afterward.


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My guess is they were landing and it went down right before the numbers here, causing them to flip over in the wet ground:

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kimberlyanne546 said:
I'll ask this weekend when I see the locals. The guy I was with in Petaluma got a call from his wife almost immediately so it must have been on TV or something. All my pilot friends were mad about the way the article was written (the birds).
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Yeah, with warm weather and a little wind 100LL will dissipate pretty quickly. Some aquatic bugs may buy it, and some plants may blanche, but birds will not eat a smelly bug.
 
Turns out my guess was correct. If you look at the runway photo I posted from Google Maps above, you'll see a bridge.

This one has the bridge in it too:

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kimberlyanne546 said:
Turns out my guess was correct. If you look at the runway photo I posted from Google Maps above, you'll see a bridge.

This one has the bridge in it too:

7591900352_4ea0022400_o.jpg
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Tail is pointing toward the bridge, so assuming that's just off the runway, the tail is pointing down 13. That means he was probably landing or taking off 13 and nosed over when he hit. Nose wheel looks like it buckled.

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That's a long way for an overrun in a light plane. That far along you could have gone around. I'm betting on power loss at takeoff and the wise decision to land straight ahead rather than try to turn back.
 
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4 Onboard per the article. Heavy and hot, landed long? Specuguessing.
 
Morne said:
4 Onboard per the article. Heavy and hot, landed long? Specuguessing.
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The other article says only one (or only mentions the pilot). Also, is the plane a 2-seater or a 4-seater? Could 4 have been on board?
 
Morne said:
4 Onboard per the article. Heavy and hot, landed long? Specuguessing.
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During my pilot training days, my instructor loved this place for cross-wind takeoffs / landings and ADF practice.
 
amooniac said:
During my pilot training days, my instructor loved this place for cross-wind takeoffs / landings and ADF practice.
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A local, where are you now? I land at Gnoss sometimes but oddly I don't remember that many cross winds, perhaps I've been lucky. Yes, I know it is infamous for the crosswinds and there is a pilot joke that if your plane is based there one tire will be more bald than the one on the other side.
 
Gnoss can be ugly sometimes... when the air moves (which it does pretty often at Gnoss), there is a place right when you turn to final that sucks you down rapidly, and if you're doing a tight turn because of unfamiliarity (101N can look very much like the runway until you're on top of it), you can easily lose lift on the right wing.

Something about the geography of the surrounding hills. Personally, I love going out there for practice on windy gusty days, when it's a pretty challenging little airport.
 
I saw the story on the news the other day and they said it was a student pilot. I practiced my x-wind takeoffs and landings at DVO. I was always afraid of hitting those towers when in the pattern. :)
 
ainokea said:
I saw the story on the news the other day and they said it was a student pilot. I practiced my x-wind takeoffs and landings at DVO. I was always afraid of hitting those towers when in the pattern. :)
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Me too but those towers are how I find my way home (to Petaluma) at night. I mean that and all my other tools, of course. You can see them from very far away. I love using big landmarks like that though (old school).
 
BayAreaFlyer said:
"A small plane crashed in Novato Saturday afternoon, landing upside down in some marshland near Gnoss Field and injuring the pilot"

He landed upside down!? This is the danger of people trying to do what they see in the movies. Although, it seems more likely he landed right-side up and the upside down part happened afterward.


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Haven't you been reading the new lately. If you end up "upright in a field" it's a crash. So I guess it makes sense that you if you end up "upside down" its a landing. :) At least in news speak.

Brian
 
Gnoss has some seriously gnarly winds. I once saw the windsock do the Richard Simmons when I landed there.
 
No, but the plane did a couple jumping jacks on the runway. The 172 was dangerously close to becoming a 170.
 
Speaking of crosswinds, I was doing pattern work with an instructor yesterday, flying an Archer for the first time in several years in order to renew my club currency in type. The wind was nearly perpendicular to the runway and gusting to 22 knots. That's rare at Palo Alto. It was a lot of work! :eek:
 
Palmpilot said:
Speaking of crosswinds, I was doing pattern work with an instructor yesterday, flying an Archer for the first time in several years in order to renew my club currency in type. The wind was nearly perpendicular to the runway and gusting to 22 knots. That's rare at Palo Alto. It was a lot of work! :eek:
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You were that close to my airspace and you didn't wave?
 
I learned at Gnoss, nice crosswinds.

The upside was the VASI lights and 152 wingtips were always fairly new.

:p

Rich
 
Sac Arrow said:
Gnoss has some seriously gnarly winds. I once saw the windsock do the Richard Simmons when I landed there.
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You know it's funny cause you said this. When I was practicing there I noticed the windsock direction at the beginning of 13. When I landed I turned my aileron into the wind. When I was taxiing I noticed the windsock at the end of the runway facing the other direction! :yikes: :D
 
RV-7A, student pilot, built the plane himself. Had to wait for rescuers to arrive and lift the plane to extricate himself.... that's one thing I don't like about planes with bubble canopies. Visibility is great, but if you end up upside down.... I carry a crash axe / plexi breaking / seatbelt cutting tool, but it could still be hard to impossible to get out. He's lucky there wasn't a fire... otherwise, a hand scrape could have been much worse.

http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/novato-pilot-walks-away-from-plane-crash-with/vcnyG/
 
When they said operations were back to normal within a few hours, I wonder what pilots were doing when they went to land and saw people / upside down plane near the end of one runway.... go around? Go to another airport? How long does the plane remain in the field? Would they talk to pilots on CTAF or record "remarks" on AWOS to get the word out?
 
50 yards from the runway - it may be just far enough so there is no interference with the landing/departing traffic.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
When they said operations were back to normal within a few hours, I wonder what pilots were doing when they went to land and saw people / upside down plane near the end of one runway.... go around? Go to another airport? How long does the plane remain in the field? Would they talk to pilots on CTAF or record "remarks" on AWOS to get the word out?
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There was a Cirrus that had a blowout at my home airport last week and stopped on the active runway. My CFI was landing right after it happened and said that whoever called in on the CTAF was notified that the runway was blocked and to use either the alternate runway or airport. I guess it took about 20-30 minutes to clear him off the runway before things returned to normal.

Hopefully a pilot on short final is checking the runway for obstructions, and then going around before hitting them.
 
He was in an RV-7 which is a 2 seat aircraft. They call him a student, assuming that means a private pilot student he wouldn't be legal to fly an experimental aircraft as a student pilot I am pretty sure. Also if he is a student he shouldn't have had any passengers. The reporting is pretty spotty.

Did they release a name yet? It would be interesting to look him up in the database.
 
Looked the N number up, got his name then looked him up. He has an ATP so he's not a student.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
You were that close to my airspace and you didn't wave?
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By the way, I guess it wasn't necessarily clear from my post, but the strong gusty crosswind I subjected myself to on Monday was at Palo Alto.
 
So I flew over Sausalito on the way to and from Half Moon Bay. I waved. U didn't wave back.
 
Sac Arrow said:
So I flew over Sausalito on the way to and from Half Moon Bay. I waved. U didn't wave back.
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Was this today? I'm only in Sausalito Mon - Fri. Well, that and Mill Valley.

Sorry I didn't wave, I was probably answering one of our 8 incoming phone lines and typing up a maintenance request. My hands were busy.
 
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