Landing plane hits car (or perhap that should be car hits landing plane)

**jbhtexas** · 11-05-2012, 07:55 AM

At Northwest Regional Airport in Roanoke (just south of Denton, TX), cars are permitted to cross right in front of the runway, after stopping of course, to check if any planes are coming or going. On Saturday, we saw why this is a bad idea...

Dramatic footage shows plane hitting car | wfaa.com Dallas - Fort Worth

**cycloneworld** · 11-05-2012, 08:01 AM

Wow. Who on earth would think that's a good idea to have a road that close to the runway?

I like how each side blames the other in the video.

**iowast8fan** · 11-05-2012, 08:09 AM

bad idea, I agree. However, the plane was coming in too low to begin with. It was going to land well short of where it should touch down.

**Cyclonepride** · 11-05-2012, 08:13 AM

Dang. Lucky that everyone came out of it okay.

**ianoconnor** · 11-05-2012, 08:16 AM

Car's fault.

**CtownCyclone** · 11-05-2012, 08:21 AM

After reading the story, it sounds like there isn't actually a stop sign, just the word "STOP" painted on the pavement.

Originally Posted by The Article

But here's what the video doesn't show: The word STOP is actually painted on the pavement, more than 50 feet from the north end of the runway. The angle of the recording does not show where the Laudos' SUV would have stopped.

Pretty hokey arrangement all the way around.

EDIT: After doing some cyber research (i.e. Google Street View), there is no stop sign. Easy to see how somebody would not see it at all if they were unfamiliar with the area.

**CycloneErik** · 11-05-2012, 08:27 AM

I pitied the people who had to take charge of that scene. Everyone was obviously stunned by this and had strong emotional reactions. Not an easy job. Terrible setup for a street.

**alarson** · 11-05-2012, 08:33 AM

You would think maybe they could put in some railroad style arms to block the road when an aircraft is approaching

**CarolinaCy** · 11-05-2012, 08:39 AM

Lady in SUV, "We DID NOT pull out in front of an airplane." Uhhhhh...... that landing gear sized hole in the roof of your SUV begs to differ.

**Erik4Cy** · 11-05-2012, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by CarolinaCy

Lady in SUV, "We DID NOT pull out in front of an airplane." Uhhhhh...... that landing gear sized hole in the roof of your SUV begs to differ.

lol. Idk how this can even be a question of who's fault it is, car or plane. Obviously car was in the wrong, of course that is a scetchy setup. But seriously lady? you didn't see the plane? no, you didn't stop and must've not looked that hard. it's perfect weather out and you were near an airfield. driver of that car needs to be more aware of surroundings. I think it would have been darwinism at work if that plane took them out. I don't have a lot of sympathy for that stuff-like when people get hit by trains by purposely stopping on train tracks or trying to cross as the arms are coming down and/or lights coming on.

Originally Posted by alarson

You would think maybe they could put in some railroad style arms to block the road when an aircraft is approaching

Exactly what i was thinking when I saw that the word "STOP" painted on the road was the only thing. How hard is it when they have this for cars to avoid trains?

**Clonefan94** · 11-05-2012, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by ianoconnor

Car's fault.

I agree, it's stupid for the car driver to even try to blame anyone else. Blown stop sign, you lose. Really though, it's more like Airport's fault or FAA, whomever would have the final say in the road being there and thinking that this was OK. In the eyes of the law, yeah the car is at fault, failure to give right of way, which was obviously the plane, but who the hell decides this is an OK way to run an airport. There is no way that wasn't going to happen eventually. Look how many people get hit by trains. They are a hell of a lot louder and bigger than a Cessna.

**BigBake** · 11-05-2012, 09:26 AM

Shaking my head at the commenters saying he was coming in too low. I'm no pilot but every flight I've been on has varied the approach altitude. So what if he was only 10' off the ground at the threshold. He could have been planning to hold 10' altitude for another 50 yards.

**CysRage** · 11-05-2012, 09:26 AM

I feel terrible for the pilot because it was his first solo flight and that happened. Because of the trauma he said we won't fly again. So sad to see a pilot put in all the time to get their license and then end like this.