What would you have done?

[ancient-one]

This happened when I was 18 years old and in the Navy at a primary training base.
Our squadron had three long lines of planes. Flying was over early for the day because of the excessively cold and cloudy weather. Me and another guy were checking to make sure all of the aircraft were chocked and tied down.
The Operations squadron had a bunch of aircraft, basic trainers, dive bombers and fighters for the primary training instructors to maintain their skills. Many of them had combat experience.
As I had been checking I noticed this sailor walking toward the hanger, (about) a block and a half away, his watch cap pulled down over his ears and his pea coat collar turned up. He was crossing the taxi ways at a angle instead of straight across as he should have been. I thought little of it as all of our squadrons aircraft were in until I heard an aircraft engine and looked up and saw a basic trainer turn on to the taxi way that he was getting ready to cross.
The pilot was making S turns trying to see over the engine but the sailor was already entering the live taxi way. I started running, waving my arms and hollering but no one could hear. Just about the time I got to the last line of aircraft the prop hit him, turning him a flip. The aircraft had stopped just past him and both pilots were out of the aircraft and running back.
I got their first and he was laying on his stomach, his back from the hips to the shoulder was missing a strip several inches wide. I will never forget the steam coming out of him or the low moan coming from him. He died about three hours later.
The pilot was a Lt.jg, in his mid twenties and a primary training instructor and he was about to lose it. The medic was there so nothing for me to do but turn away because in my young life I had seen nothing like it.
I, being a witness, had to testify before the board of inquiry. My problem was, to me he was taxiing too fast but could I really be sure? He was making the S turns while taxiing as he should have. Had the sailor been going straight across the taxi way as he should it probably would have never happened. I was not sure what I was going to say until I got on the stand. I had heard this pilot with a good record, so shaken, express his sorrow for what had happened. His Navy career was in the balance.
When asked if the pilot was taxiing too fast I replied that I could not judge his speed because I was running full speed but I did not think so. One life was gone, couldn't be replaced and I couldn't see messing another one up.
WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?

 

[Absalom]

I think you did the best you could under the circumstances.

The taxiing pilot did not commit any obvious breach of protocol to which you could testify. This came down to a judgment call which you yourself were clearly not comfortable with making, and quite possibly not able to actually make correctly from your location. So you declined to make that call, which was the only honorable thing to do.

Unless military traffic rules are different, the "failure to yield" was still entirely the deceased sailor's fault, even if the plane had taxied faster than appropriate, so you don't even have to worry about somebody (that pilot) escaping responsibility for the death.

 

[quikdraw67]

Obviously this has weighed on your mind for many, many years.

I say that you did the right thing.

Testifying against the pilot would not have brought the sailor back from the dead.

And I'm sure that pilot thought about that sailor every day for the rest of his life.

So, I think you did the right thing.

 

[dasnake]

For me.

Judgement call, in the midst of a horrific action how could you be certain of a taxi speed, right call then, right call now.

 

[mckenney99]

Graydon, As a LE Officer I was told early on by both a Prosecutor and a Judge, if I was ever asked a question that I wasn't absolutely sure of the answer, NEVER, EVER GUESS, absolutely nothing wrong with saying I don't know or I'm not sure. I fully believe that your own sub-conscious was telling you the same. Rest easy.

 

[vt_shooter]

Sorry to say, but the sailor who was killed owned it. It was totally on him, and none of it on the pilot, even if the pilot was taxiing a smidgeon too fast. It's the job of pedestrians to watch for airplanes and give way to them while on an airfield movement area. Let it go.

 

[gregintenn]

No idea what I would have done, and I am thankful I l've never had to find out. I would not second guess your actions, however, Mr. Pershing.
Thank you for your service!

 

[Mule Packer]

Graydon, no way could you have accurately determined if the speed of that plane was too fast. You made the right decision. Bottom line, it's the only true decision you could've made.

 

[Krogen]

In my mind, there is no question you did the right thing.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I know little about being a pilot but trying to taxi a tail-dragger and keep eyeballs on the runway has got to be difficult.

 

[DeathGrip]

That's a horrible memory to carry

It's a dangerous environment on a flight line. Training wasn't followed. There's no way you or that pilot had any fault.

I pray after all of these years you can see that and find peace.

 

[Bob L]

I agree that you did the right thing. Anytime you are on or near the flight line, you have to be fully aware of your surroundings.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Having maintained aircraft for several years it was always understood that the aircraft had the right of way no matter what.

While unfortunate, a momentary lapse in judgement has claimed many lives during maintenance, engine runs, etc.......

You did the best you could under the circumstances.

 

[delcrossv]

What you could objectively determine was that the guy wasn't crossing the taxiway safely. A determination of whether the pilot was going too fast or not would have been subjective on your part.

You testified correctly.

 

[handejector]

My problem was, to me he was taxiing too fast but could I really be sure? He was making the S turns while taxiing as he should have.

Graydon,
Something to consider-
You were racing the plane to the sailor, and losing. You were thinking "I gotta get there!" but the plane was closing his distance faster than you were closing your distance.
Was he really going too fast, or just closing faster than you, increasing your dread by the milisecond?
Wouldn't those S turns have been hard to do at too great a speed?
No matter what, this is on the sailor.

 

[hoosierone]

He was violating procedure and it cost him his life. What puzzles me is that he didn't hear the plane approaching. Plus (I'm not a pilot) but I would think the S turns would limit your speed. I believe you did the right thing.

 

[arjay]

I think you did the right thing throughout that ordeal

 

[CQB27]

From my experience taxiing military helicopters and airplanes, the last thing I would expect to see is someone walking diagonally across an active taxiway, or even walking across a taxiway at all upon hearing an aircraft coming. The rule on military airfields was always all vehicles and personnel on the tarmac at all times yield to active aircraft, no matter what ground control says. The cockpit usually has very good visibility to the side, front and above.....forward and below, not so much. The reason for the yield rule is directly related to that. I'm sure that hasn't changed.

Judging the speed of a taxiing airplane? Not that you couldn't do it, but "too fast" is a very relative term. It sounds like the airplane on the active taxiway was the only one moving on the airfield. Under those circumstances taxiing a little faster than normal wouldn't be considered hazardous at all considering there was no other active traffic on the taxiways.

Rest easy Sir. You made the right call. While a change in any number of factors could have prevented the accident (taxiing slower, not walking diagonally across an active taxiway, being alert while on foot crossing an active taxiway) the proximate cause of that tragedy was the complacency of the man walking on the taxiway.

 

[steelslaver]

Graydon,
Something to consider-
You were racing the plane to the sailor, and losing. You were thinking "I gotta get there!" but the plane was closing his distance faster than you were closing your distance.
Was he really going too fast, or just closing faster than you, increasing your dread by the milisecond?
Wouldn't those S turns have been hard to do at too great a speed?
No matter what, this is on the sailor.

I think that sums it up. The plane could have been coming at the right speed and it would still would have been coming to fast for you. Sometimes when stuff is going wrong everything you want to go faster is going way to slow and everything you want to go slower is going way to fast. The sailor knew better, put himself in harms way and did it with his hearing muffled. If the plane would have been going 10 mph slower probably wouldn't have mattered. I am sure the pilot has punished himself enough, thinking maybe if I was going slower, making bigger Ss, looking harder etc etc.

I have seen some bad stuff happen. It happens fast and slow at the same time.

Maybe you have it stuck in the back of your head you should have waved the guy off the runway when you first saw him. If he didn't see you when you were running at him he wouldn't have noticed in the beginning either. Maybe done something sooner, been more alert and noticed the plane sooner, etc etc. Knock it off. Bad stuff happens. You are NOT responsible everyone who makes a poor decision. Especially being young and rather new. Let it go.

 

[tlawler]

Graydon, you absolutely did the right thing. Rest easy shipmate.
I'd be interested in learning what that pilot went on to accomplish during the war...what battles he flew in, all because you stood up to the pressure to tank his career.

 

[ancient-one]

Thanks for your comments! I feel OK with what I did. It was just one of the things in my life that comes back once in awhile. I would have regretted it had I gone the other way.
tlawler, I am not sure if I ever saw the pilot again. When you are trying to get 10 aircraft ready at the same time(think hand inertia starters with some cadets not really good at starting aircraft) you don't have time to look the instructor pilot. I would have really liked to have talked to him.

 

[dasnake]

Well don't stop there.................

Your reference was just getting interesting, finish it, finish it.

 

[Hair Trigger]

I think you did the right thing. Your judgment of the pilot's taxi speed, accurate as it may have been, is just a best guess on your part. You don't mention what the aircraft type was, some planes have an inherently higher taxi speed than others, sometimes in order to maintain enough control authority (prop wash over the tail surfaces) to properly maneuver.

You would have to assume the sailor crossing the taxiway was educated in flight line etiquette, since he was on the flight line, which is normally a controlled access area. It was incumbent on him to have an eye out for moving aircraft, regardless of the cold and wind which had him hunkered down with his collar up and watch cap down. It's a matter of the least maneuverable "vehicle" having the right of way, and it was easier for the pedestrian to avoid the aircraft than vice-versa, and since it occurred on an active taxiway, the plane normally has the right of movement.

I have a fair amount of military flightline experience, but it had to do with jet engines more than propellers. In either case, it's the individual's responsibility to stay out of the way and watch both where he's going and what to avoid.

 

[Doug M.]

When I was in LE, there were a few times when I stopped and talked to pedestrians about their poor choices - and they were not near as poor as what you describe. As a prosecutor, when we were still a small enough county to also be the coroner, I went to several death scenes where people died because they made really unsound choices - but not as bad as you describe.

Under most if not all conditions, pedestrians lose to vehicles. That's basic physics - and I am not a scientist. You did the right thing as I see it. To my analysis, this seems like almost a suicide.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

If there was a clearly explained-and enforced-SOP and the victim ignored it, then he can only blame himself.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

Sir,

You did the right thing. You can't second guess the past, so, as some have said, put it away and try to forget it. I will pray that God relieves you of the bad thought when it pops up.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[johnbeaver]

Sounds like you acted quickly and decisively. Nothing else you could have done.
Just not a good outcome, but nothing on you.

 

[llowry61]

You did the right thing for all the reasons already mentioned. Thank you for your service and I hope that you can rest easy.