Max Trescott of the Aviation News Talk podcast discusses the Watsonville, CA mid-air collision of a Cessna 340 and a Cessna 152. The plane crash occurred at about 2:56 PM on August 18, 2022. Unfortunately, the three people aboard the aircraft and a dog were killed. The 152 crashed on short final for Watsonville Airport’s runway 20, and the C340 crashed into a hangar. Max shows the radar plots for both aircraft and matches it with the ATC audio, so you can see how the accident unfolded.
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There are many interesting aspects to this crash, but the most salient fact is that the twin Cessna 340, which flew a long straight in approach to runway 20, was flying at very high speed. And while both planes made all of the recommended radio transmissions, at least one of the final radio calls was ambiguous about the aircraft’s position.
The twin Cessna 340 aircraft often flew into Watsonville on weekends, and the prior weekend, its final approach speed was around 100 knots. But on the day of the accident, the twin was still at about 180 knots when it hit the Cessna 152 on short final. However, the landing gear extension speed for this aircraft is 140 knots. That suggests that either the pilot forgot to put down the landing gear, or he had the gear down and was vastly overspeeding the gear limits. We’ll probably never know why the 340 was flying so fast, but in this case that extra speed was a significant factor in this accident.
Communications were also an issue. Both pilots were communicating in the ways that they were supposed to, but both could have done a better job, as I’ll explain when I play the radio communications.
About 8 miles East of the airport is a ridge that goes up to about 2000 feet. So aircraft that make a long straight in final approach to runway 20 have to first clear that ridge before starting their descent. And when you’re flying a fast airplane, it’s hard to both descend and slow up at the same time, without making a huge power reduction, which may be hard on the engines. So, it pays to reduce power and slow up before you start a steep descent.
What’s really hard to understand is why the pilot of the twin continued to fly an approach to landing at 180 knots, when it would have been almost impossible to land at that speed. Yet the data shows a continual descent to about 200 feet AGL, where the airplanes collided, and the pilot of the twin never gave any indication that he planned to do anything other than land straight in for a full stop. Perhaps the pilot was distracted, as he didn’t reference other aircraft in the traffic pattern until he was about a mile from the airport.
The other aircraft was N49931, a Cessna 152 that was in the traffic pattern flying left traffic to runway 20. The pilot regularly reported his position on crosswind, downwind, base, and final. At the time of the accident, the 152 was on at least his fifth landing, and was making touch and goes.
The Cessna 340 reported his position for a straight in final at 10 miles, 3 miles, and 1 mile. However, he never asked anything about other traffic in the pattern until his 1 mile, transmission, when he asked about the aircraft on base.
Typically, an aircraft on base would join the final at about 1.5 miles from the airport. Yet the twin didn’t inquire about the position of the 152 until it was on a one mile final! At that point, it was very late to ask that question, as an aircraft on base could be expected to turn on final a mile and a half mile before the runway, and the twin had already passed that point.
Also, the 152 pilot’s decision to turn base after hearing the twin was on a 3-mile final was questionable. And the pilot knew it might be close; he actually turned onto base about three-tenths of a mile sooner than he did on his prior circuits around the pattern.
And the 152’s radio call that “you are behind me,” was ambiguous. Did that mean that the aircraft was still on base, and that he was closer to the airport than the twin? Or did it mean that the 152 was on final, and that the twin was coming up rapidly behind him on final?
Both pilots showed questionable judgement. One possible explanation comes from an NTSB study that shows that 40% of pilots involved in fatal accidents tested positive for either over the counter, prescription, or illicit drugs. The most common potentially impairing drug pilots had used was a sedating antihistamine that’s an active ingredient in many over the counter allergy formulations, cold medicines, and sleep aids. Toxicology tests should eventually tell us whether one or both pilots were possibly impaired.
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