Watsonville is untowered, so no contact approaches there. Plus, seeing how the plane and ground met up with each other, the reported visibility was most likely less than 1SM, which means a contact approach would not have been authorized. And even if it had, once the actual visibility becomes less than 1SM, it’s up to the pilot to climb and confess. A an IFR rated pilot would have been trained and ready to “get out of dodge” when the approach went bad.

There’s no way to know if this was the first time the pilot did this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the last in a long string of increasingly bold misbehaviors, each reinforced by a safe arrival.

Watsonville is untowered, so no contact approaches there. Plus, seeing how the plane and ground met up with each other, the reported visibility was most likely less than 1SM, which means a contact approach would not have been authorized. And even if it had, once the actual visibility becomes less than 1SM, it’s up to the pilot to climb and confess. A an IFR rated pilot would have been trained and ready to “get out of dodge” when the approach went bad.

There’s no way to know if this was the first time the pilot did this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the last in a long string of increasingly bold misbehaviors, each reinforced by a safe arrival.