Two people were killed when the Jeep they were riding in was struck by a small plane. At first, this sounds like the pair was riding down the street in their Jeep and an airplane, on some kind of emergency, collided with their Jeep. However, as the facts have trickled out of Tallahassee, it seems the Jeep’s occupants were equally at fault with the plane’s.

Carmen Langston and Dennis Boyle, both 56 were killed Sunday when the left wing of a Piper Cub (a small, single engine and high wing plane such as in the picture above) hit the vehicle forcing it to lose control and crash into a tree. The problem is, the Jeep was sharing the runway with the aircraft as it was taking off from a private airstrip in Ayavalla Plantation near Tallahassee. The plane was being piloted by Paul Langston (husband of one of the accident casualties). The Jeep and aircraft were going down the runway together when the accident occurred. Paul Langston and passenger Marissa Walton were unhurt in the accident.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has dispatched an investigator to the scene and the information will be forwarded to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for further review. Now, Velozia Air will leave the figuring out if Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) were broken to the FAA, but we can definitely look at how idiotic this was.

While driving down a runway next to a plane may seem like a very straightforward affair, a lot of factors need to be taken into consideration. For one, runways are regularly wide since airplanes need the width to move about in different conditions. While I am unsure of the dimensions of the strip in Ayavalla, most private airstrips tend to be relatively narrow, so I’m assuming the Jeep was either off to the side of the runway or sharing a tight space with the plane. Keeping a car on a straight line is very simple, as long as you’re sober. Keeping a plane straight on a runway, though, takes certain things into consideration. For one, depending on wind and other factors, planes move about on a runway as they take off. Pilots make constant corrections to keep the plane on track. Usually, various factors, including the direction of rotation of the propeller, join together to create a series of left turning tendencies in aircraft. Pilots apply right rudder to correct for these. While a seasoned pilot may be used to tracking straight down the runway, it’s not that easy sharing the space with a vehicle.

As a plane begins to generate lift on its takeoff run it becomes more prone to the effects of wind. Had the Jeep still been next to the Piper Cub once it began to achieve takeoff, the aircraft could have received a push from the wind and in the split second it takes a pilot to correct, a plane can move quite a few yards in one direction.

Obviously, the people involved here weren’t being smart. Sometimes the adventurous side of aviation takes a stronger hold over people than their safety sense can and things like this happen. Velozia Air will keep you up to speed as more news comes out regarding this accident.  (Image by Piper Aircraft, Inc.)

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