Watch: Plane clips SUV near Texas runway
ROANOKE, Texas (AP) - A woman who shot video of her husband landing a small plane at a Dallas-area airport captured the aircraft clipping an SUV driving near the runway.
The Department of Public Safety says both people in the SUV suffered non-life threatening injuries in the accident at Northwest Regional Airport. The pilot wasn't hurt in the crash landing at the airport near Roanoke.
An airport official did not immediately provide further details Monday.
The video shows William Davis trying to land the single-engine Cessna on Saturday when the plane's gear hits the top of the SUV. Pieces of the landing gear break off. The top of the SUV is damaged.
The airport is a privately owned public use facility. The word "stop" is painted on the roadway near the runway.
God those evil SUV's are now a menace to aircraft!
The driver of the SUV should pay all damages and restitution to the pilot. He ran the stop sign. Even it was just painted on the road, he ran it none the less.Â
Shouldn't there had been a STAND alone stop sigh there instead of "stop" painted on the road? glad no one was hurt but I had to see that guy that put all the money and hours into learning to fly quit because of an accident he walked away from.
 @moonbeam51 A standing stop sign would damage the aircraft. Drivers are supposed to watch the road, so a painted STOP on the road isn't so out of the question.
@moonbeam51 I'd rather have him quit on his own instead of crashing later because he was overconfident in his abillities. Flying isn't something to be taken lightly. You either can or you can't. The penalties for those who try anyway, when they shouldn't can be very severe.
@what? Who said he was overconfident in his abilities? He was just trying to land the plane when this SUV failed to yield. Doesn't sound like he was overconfident at all.
@what? I don't see where this is the pilots fault. He clearly had the right of way and was committed to landing. The Stupid SUV driver ignored the stop sign and should have given the right of way to the pilot.
 @what?  I am trying to understand where you are coming from on this. I don't know if you are referencing the pilot's abilities, or what?
Where is the overconfidence you are referring to?
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 @Jane Smith Hey, this is TEXAS we are talking about. Mama is probably in jeans and boots and packing heat. LOL
Now after watching the whole video on the news, I like how the wife asks the driver or passenger. Why did you pull out in front of an air plain trying to land? "WE DIDN'T"! A ya you did!
It's an absolute miracle that those SUV drivers still have their heads.
I say the plane had the right-of-way. Looks like the SUV driver is the idiot in this one.
I am wondering why the wife was filming in the first place? Is this a new pilot? Granted the SUV should not have been there in the first place but I can see a new pilot having tunnel vision on only the runway. And it does seem that the pilot undershot the numbers.Â
 @Beam_Me_Up What difference does it make WHY she was filming? Maybe she has a filming fetish. Plane has right of way. SUV ran stop line.
 @Bornhere So you make the assumption that pilots don't have to have any type of situation awareness? If that was so flying would be a much more dangerous act for experienced pilots just do look forward and they understand the dangers of landing short especially in a non tower controlled airport as this seems. I have many times had the right of way but because I can not control others I have avoided accidents because I was not just using my front windshield to see. It seems you are too attached to this pilots abilities to fly a plane versus the pilots abilities to avoid an accident. Granted accidents happen but I would not be surprised that pilot error will be cited here for landing short.
Ouch, both parties fault. How do you not see each other comming?
 @dkgiovenco Ever piloted?
Both ends of that runway have a road at the end. Â Runway has a displaced threshold also, so he may have been landing too short - you can take off on a displace threshold, but not supposed to land until you reach the runway - after the arrows. Â See -Â http://tinyurl.com/ba3td38
Our own Harvey field has a similar runway with a road at the south end. Â http://tinyurl.com/arwngan
Not going to speculate on the cause, but just and observation! Â
@Tom-RNT I agree, the pilot appears to be low and could be landing short. He should have added power and aborted the landing attempt.
@Tom-RNT At the very least the pilot does seem to be really dragginâ it in over the fence and then eventually to be over the numbers.
 @Tom-RNT From the picture of the airfield in the link you provided, it looks like the plane was landing on 17 and does appear to be landing way too short. The white fence is visible at the highest magnification as is the road between the fence and the edge of the runway.Â
 @Veteran Yeah, looks like he was aiming for the end of the pavement rather than end of the runway past the displaced threshold.  For you non-pilots out there, a displaced threshold (see my link) is a line on the runway farther down the pavement.  Commonly used to keep (or encourage!) pilots to stay higher and land farther down.  Usually if there is an obstacle  such as a road to clear.  Yeah you can fly it in low with power and still land in the right place, but not recommended .
Anyway, a good pilot will never speculate until the facts are all known and investigated. Â I'm not pointing at right or wrong simply stating some facts.Â
Was the runway so short that the pilot's approach required him to land at the edge of the runway? Looking at the slow-motion part, it looks like he would have contacted the runway not much more than 10 feet from the edge of the tarmac. I would think that if the plane was even 5 feet higher going over the white fence, the accident probably would not have happened.  The pilot may had to have his seat cushion cleaned, but there would not have been a crash.
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Not defending the driver of the SUV as he was clearly in the wrong. But if the pilot had used a different approach, he could have landed further down the runway and avoided the SUV.
@Veteran It is an interesting approach. Usually you are still 30 feet or so above the threshold when you cross it. But, if it is a short runway, I can see having to cut it close like that, and the need for a stop sign.
Sorry but the reporters name caught my eye and made me smile... flower mound... teehee
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Now why in the hell was that SUV driving there I mean sheesh the morn was probably on their stupid cell phone oblivious to the plane rapidly approaching... good grief!
 @Freespeech That's the name of the town, silly. If you like that one, Texas has lots to offer you: Telephone, Edhube, Bells, Ladonia, and oh, so many more...
 @Freespeech You might want to actually watch the video, LOL!
 @Freespeech Her name is Amanda Guerra.  She was in Flower Mound, TX.
Far too late for the pilot to abort the landing......SUV was clearly at fault. Why the SUV was driving around off road on airport land is my question......
@dg54321 I don't think it was too late to abort. If he caught it out of the right side of his eye and gave it full power he could've barely climbed over. I fly 172's and when you give it full power on a go-around with full flaps it will start climbing right away.Â
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What I do see right before he hits the car is a little drop down like he cut power since he had the runway made. Still, absolutely the car drivers fault. A lot of lucky people here to walk away.
@dg54321 He wasn't off-road. There is a public road right where he was driving. And a Stop sign painted on the ground. The driver of the SUV, on another network, was talking fast and furious trying to pull a CYA. But fairly dimwitted driving by him. Almost looks intentional given his speed.
@NBA_Is_Useless Yeah with a stop sign the driver obviously should definitely stop and look all ways, including down the runway and up the approach path when the stop sign is on a road going right by the end of a runway.
 @flyskiwindsurf  @NBA_Is_Useless I have noticed that people do tend to ignore the stop signs painted on the ground in shopping centers quite often. Maybe this road needs something more substantial.
 @NBA_Is_Useless  @dg54321 The video makes it look like there was no road there and he was just driving in the field behind the runway....especially since he is on the runway side of the fence. Very misleading. Thanks for the info.
Geez! What the hell was that idiot thinking? Never thought snyone would be stupid enough to drive in front of a runway like that!
One might wonder if the SUV driver was texting....how could you NOT see the plane coming in?
This is a huge WTF moment. Â The driver of the SUV had no business driving next to an active runway without at least doing a visual check to see if there were any inbound aircraft. Â
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From what I'm able to tell, this isn't a controlled airfield. Â As such, there wouldn't have been a tower to warn the pilot or control ground traffic. Â The person driving the SUV was totally at fault and had the responsibility of checking for traffic before crossing the runway like that. Â That mistake could have cost a couple of people their lives.