There was a fatal midair collision in KWVI Watsonville on August 18th, 2022 at about 2154Z.
What appeared to have happened is that a slower C152 training aircraft in the pattern was overtaken and struck from behind by a very fast twin engine Cessna -- both aircraft on Final Approach for runway 20. The apparent cause of the collision (my speculation only at this early stage) is that N740WJ failed to see and avoid the C152 in the pattern while on Final, and ploughed straight in, at an unacceptable approach speed. (180-190 knots). The acceptable approach speed for the aircraft was half of that speed. Besides being a reckless maneuver in its own right, this put all other approaching and established WVI traffic at great risk. Unfortunately, among the many aircraft in the pattern that day, N49931 happened to be in the way of the wayward twin engine Cessna.
The two aircraft involved in the mid-air collision:
- Dual Prop, Low Wing Cessna 340A (with 2 300HP Continental Engines & 240 knot Vne)
- N740WJ - Owned by ALM Holding of Winton CA
- Engines: 2 - TSIO-520-NB Continental
- 75 year old Carl Kruppa, requiring corrective eyewear - 3rd class medical (typical for non-commercial pilots) and wife.
- Relatively inexperienced, non-commercial Pilot. Licensed since November 28th of 2018 - less than 4 years of flight experience. Single + Multiengine ratings.
- Single Prop Trainer Cessna 152 N49931 (with 1 Lycoming O-235 Engine 149 knot Vne) N49931
- Engine: 1 - O-235 Engine at 100HP-135HP (exact Config. unknown by me)
- Owned by Monterey Bay Aviation - dba "United" based on the field.
- Newly minted pilot, 32 year old Stuart Michael Camenson. VFR only, licensed since 2020 July 9th.
My own interpretation of the Accident Chronology heard via Live ATC.net
https://archive.liveatc.net/kwvi/KWVI2-Aug-18-2022-2130Z.mp3
Situation:
N49931 - A high wing Cessna flying slowly as one may often expect in a closed pattern around an un-towered airport is practicing. A low wing "fast" Cessna N740WJ comes blazing in at 180-190Knots.
As early as I can gather from the CTAF recordings, Cessna N49931 was in the pattern and at one point established behind Cessna 5347H doing Left Closed Traffic for Rnwy 20. A Mooney -70R entered the pattern downwind and the 5347H landed at Monterey and taxied to "United". The Mooney successfully landed and a few other aircraft including -90FL & -22H were in the pattern with N49931. Seemingly out of no-where a twin engined Cessna -WJ called at 10, 3 and 1 miles from the airport. From the 10 and 3 mile call, I calculate that -WJ was flying at 210 miles per hour. (7 miles / 120 sec. * 3600 sec/hr). From the 3 mile call and the 1 mile call, only 37 or so seconds apart, I calculate that WJ was flying at OVER 190 mi/hr very close to the airport.
Contrast the twin-engine Cessna's speed with what a Cessna 152 training aircraft could muster. I estimate that the C152 was flying at 60 - 80 knots in the pattern - 1/3rd of the inbound Cessnas speed!
What is tragic is that this situation could have been avoided -- however, it took a reckless inbound aircraft and a lack of visibility/awareness on the in-pattern aircraft to permit such a crash. The Cessna 340a could have hit other aircraft, but the timing of the C152, being on left base and later final, unfortunately coincided with the 340a straight in attempt -- tragic and fatal to all involved.
My Take-Aways:
- Don't assume that any aircraft, especially near Final Approach, hears and complies with your calls on the radio -- don't trust. Verify.
- Don't fly straight in approaches ever. Or at unless you are 110% confident that you are the only traffic for 100+ Nautical miles.
- A go-around *may put you into an intersecting course with inbound overlapping aircraft. Stay the course and avoid over-correction. At the same time, get a visual on any problematic aircraft and get away from them. High Wing vs. Low Wing visibility issues need to be considered and mitigated as much as possible. (340a, a Low Wing wouldn't have easily seen an aircraft that was climbing into it from below -- as the case would have been if Stuart was executing a Go-Around and climbing out at full power)
- Train, Train, Train.
