Han Solo

[stevej37]

Might be time to pack it in.

[Steve Carlton]

Harrison is clearly scattered in this audio, and in other interviews I've seen. He's 77 years old, so no shame in that.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Ugh... not good. Pilot deviations (and particularly runway incursions) are a quick way to get dead.

[pmax]

[pavulon]

Could see this being the end for his left seat time.

[ckelly78z]

At 77, Harrison Ford is 10 years older than my FIL was when we demanded he stopped flying for safety/cognitive reasons.

[tabs]

No more piloting the Millenium Falcon for you Han Solo..

[GH85Carrera]

It all comes down to the man. To quote my former boss he "took early retirement at age 92" and flew his airplane from the left seat on his 92md birthday. He was in the Army Air Corp in brown uniforms when the orders came down to change to blue uniforms. He was a pilot instructor for C-47 all the way through the Korean war. He went to work at the CAA and had a 3 digit employee number. Of course later it became the FAA and he worked as a pilot for them. He had filled up several log books and quit counting his hours. In all those flights he never had an off airport landing or landing that damaged the aircraft.

[sammyg2]

It was chewey's fault.
Every time ford opens his mouth he makes a stronger case against him being allowed to fly. Or drive.

[Seahawk]

I like to see where things in aviation happen, especially in the terminal phase of flight and at the airport. It can color perceptions.

Here is a partial screen shoot of the Hawthorn Airport. Pretty basic layout:



The entire plate and other info is in this link: https://skyvector.com/airport/HHR/Jack-Northrop-Field-Hawthorne-Municipal-Airport

I was confused since RW 25 was the active, turning left at Delta to Sierra should not have meat crossing the RW 25 since he would have been on RW 25.

Eek.

He clearly states in the second video that he landed on the taxi way to the right of RW 25. Either that or he turned right at Delta.

The rest is even worse

Am I wrong?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Separate incident (?) 4800 feet is awfully short to be landing airbuses on.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Separate incident (?) 4800 feet is awfully short to be landing airbuses on.

I honestly don't know...but I think you are right. I love aviation mysteries like this. I also did a few accident investigations in the military. I still don't get the fact he was on the active and could have just turned left as directed. Perhaps he turned right off the active.

As a former commercial pilot you know the commercial side much better than I have or ever will.

Hans Solo Tw'fer.

In any event, I loved single runaway airports. Hard to dick it up

[KNS]

His read back at Hawthorne was correct (twice) but he crossed the active anyway - brain fart, inattention or something...

That's now two Pilot Deviations. Bad part about being a mega star is that the whole world hears about it. I feel for the guy. Thankfully no one else was involved, could have been a different story.

His engine failure and landing at the golf course could have happened to anyone (though I haven't heard of the cause for the engine problem), he did reasonably well there selecting a forced landing area in a metropolitan setting but did have some injuries.

[dar636]

It is harder to understand because he was based there as well. It's not like he just arrived at an unfamiliar airport.

And it is short for normal commercial operations, when Alaska 737's depart from there the pilot usually makes an announcement to warn passengers to expect the steep departure deck angle and immediate power reduction at pattern altitude for noise abatement. Just good fun really.

I'm sad for Harry if he has to hang it up.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by dar636

I'm sad for Harry if he has to hang it up.

I am as well.

I am going flying tomorrow in a J-3, owned by my neighbor. We'll fly off his grass strip.

His son, a former Navy pilot, will be at the sticks for the important bits.

Thank god. There is a knee in the curve for everything we do.

[svandamme]

In his defense, ATC was talking way to fast and almost swallowing his words.


ATC Hold short
HF copyu hold short
ATC Hold short
HF holding short
ATC Continue ....Holdshort

Sounds like HF was holding short and confirmed it

But he went on the Continue.... didn't allow the ATC to finish his sentence.
Didn't pay attention to the rest of the sentence and wasn't aware of prior landing clearance given...



Why is that ATC talking so fast, he almost swallows his words..
This is a single runway airport, how busy can it be that he has to talk so fast??
Why would you use "continue" to somebody who's holding short and you want to remain in place.


But HF also should have been more aware, and should have heard "traffic down the runway"...

There's part blame, but in light of his prior problems, like landing on taxiway.
HF to me sounds to easily confused to keep flying on his own.

[450knotOffice]

Listening to the Hawthorne incident, Harrison Ford exited 25 with a left turn at D taxiway, then continued westbound on S to the end, where he planned to cross 25 again at H (which is at the end of the 4800 foot runway)(which is about 2 to 3 times the length needed for the Cirrus to land on, so there really wasn't any imminent danger of a collision between those two planes). he was told to hold short of 25 at H for landing traffic, but Ford mistook the hold short for a clearance to cross.

Most likely scenario was "expectation bias", which is one of those things that can get any pilot, to include a pro. Regardless, it was certainly a runway incursion, which the FAA considers a BIG deal.

Based on his transmissions, Ford didn't sound like he was out of it in any way, rather that he has developed some very sloppy radio etiquette over the years, something I hear often in more experienced General Aviation pilots. The newly minted pilots, those with less experience, and those who intend to be pros tend to maintain much better radio etiquette than the older, more relaxed folks.

I'll second the excellent job Ford did a few years to put his airplane onto that golf course after a total loss of power so soon after takeoff. MANY pilots succumb to that scenario, usually through a stall spin while trying to stretch a glide or flat out panicking.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by 450knotOffice

Listening to the Hawthorne incident, Harrison Ford exited 25 with a left turn at D taxiway, then continued westbound on S to the end, where he planned to cross 25 again at H (which is at the end of the 4800 foot runway)...

Why would he do that? He could have exited right at D to S, right?

That, coupled with the landing on the taxi way incident...

[450knotOffice]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Why would he do that? He could have exited right at D to S, right?

That, coupled with the landing on the taxi way incident...

Listen to the tape, starting at 28 seconds in. He was told to turn LEFT at D, runway 25, taxi via S with me. He acknowledged the specific instruction and complied. He screwed up only later when he crossed 25/7 after being told to hold short of the runway.

Who knows why the controller asked him to turn left at D? Habit, maybe? Maybe N taxiway on the north side was Notamed out then? I have no idea.

With that said, I DO think maybe it's time for him to back it down a notch or two and maybe stick to flying off of rural, uncontrolled airstrips, or if he has the rating, stick with glider flying.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by 450knotOffice

Listen to the tape, starting at 28 seconds in. He was told to turn LEFT at D, runway 25, taxi via S with me. He acknowledged the specific instruction and complied. He screwed up only later when he crossed 25/7 after being told to hold short of the runway.

Who knows why the controller asked him to turn left at D? Habit, maybe? Maybe N taxiway on the north side was Notamed out then? I have no idea.

With that said, I DO think maybe it's time for him to back it down a notch or two and maybe stick to flying off of rural, uncontrolled airstrips, or if he has the rating, stick with glider flying.

Scott,

I agree even though the airport is as simple as can be. No warning on right at D today, but you are right, NOTAMS may have been in force.

Fly well. J-3 tomorrow!