Training Tip: Oops, wrong runway

The Skyhawk, with a student pilot and instructor aboard, was about to touch down when the CFI spotted the straight-in arrival dead ahead, landing from the opposite direction.

“I immediately had my student do a go-around and miss going head-on into this traffic reporting the wrong runway,” the CFI recalled, adding that radio calls from the other aircraft then ceased. “This pilot clearly needs to be contacted by the proper authorities and possibly needs to go back and be retrained,” the CFI said in a filing with the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS).

Good catch. There had been no reason to suspect that the other pilot’s position reports were incorrect—and when supervising a student pilot practicing landings, a conscientious flight instructor has lots to keep track of inside and outside the aircraft.

Causes of the many opposite-direction-traffic conflicts that occur at nontowered airports are numerous, including some of the “You can’t make this stuff up” variety.

There are the honest mistakes such as a pilot mistaking a runway bearing for its reciprocal. These produce the added peril of a misleading position report.

In other cases, there may be no communications at all.

And in one instance reported to the ASRS, an accident ensued when “imperfect reception led to a miscommunication,” after which “evasive action took place that led to the other aircraft briefly leaving the runway and causing minor damage from striking an edge light.”

Reports highlight elevated risk for opposite-direction conflicts in some predictable scenarios, as when an aircraft is practicing an instrument approach against local traffic. If you hear a pilot report a “circling approach” on the common traffic advisory frequency, be vigilant for the possibility of the aircraft showing up in the airport vicinity against traffic or higher or lower than pattern altitude. (It shouldn’t, but people do these things.)

Another scenario that could create an inadvertent head-to-head confrontation is calm surface winds. Some airports designate a calm-wind runway, but light, variable winds could change enough in a short time for two pilots to make different direction-of-landing or direction-of-departure decisions.

So light up your aircraft, announce your position frequently, keep scanning the airspace, and as always, have that go-around ready.