The Displaced-Threshold Trap

The pilot of a Baron landing Runway 30R at Bakersfield, Calif., told me this story. The runway is two miles long, but has a 3500-foot displaced threshold.Tower cleared me to land with a Caution wake turbulence behind the departing single-engine Cessna. That didnt sound too bad. As I broke out, I aimed for the standard touchdown point and spotted an airplane ahead.

Editorial Staff

Tuesday, January 06, 2015 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A pilot experienced a sudden and dangerous drop in altitude due to severe wake turbulence during landing, despite receiving an ATC warning.
The ATC warning was misleading, as it generically identified the preceding aircraft as a "single-engine Cessna" when it was actually a much larger FedEx Caravan, understating the wake turbulence risk.
The incident highlights the critical importance of precise and accurate aircraft identification in air traffic control warnings to prevent hazardous wake turbulence encounters.

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The pilot of a Baron landing Runway 30R at Bakersfield, Calif., told me this story. The runway is two miles long, but has a 3500-foot displaced threshold.

“Tower cleared me to land with a ‘Caution wake turbulence behind the departing single-engine Cessna.’ That didn’t sound too bad. As I broke out, I aimed for the standard touchdown point and spotted an airplane ahead.

“At about 300 feet, I was slowing to just below blue line. Suddenly, I dropped like a rock—from a descent of 500 FPM became 2000 FPM. I slammed in full power but got no more speed and no less descent. I swore to myself I wasn’t going to stall. I maintained pitch and held on. Now I identified the departing Cessna, a FedEx Caravan climbing at a high deck angle. Fifty feet before smashing into the runway, I got air back and made a smooth landing.

“Tower called me with, ‘Nicely done, sir.’ I told them it would have helped me a lot to have heard, ‘Caution, wake turbulence behind the departing FedEx Caravan.’

“Wake from even a “single-engine” airplane is dangerous if you pass directly through its wake because you’re not authorized to land short. —F.R.