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Student pilot William Davis was on final approach to land at Northwest Regional Airport in Roanoke, Texas, on Saturday, when his Skyhawk collided with an SUV that was crossing the airport. Davis’s wife, Kandy, was filming his descent and caught the collision on video. The collision knocked off part of the Skyhawk’s landing gear, but Davis was able to land and wasn’t hurt. The two people in the car, a couple on their way to the airport diner, were treated for minor injuries. The road crosses the airport perpendicular to the runway, just a few feet from the runway end, and is marked with “Stop” painted on the surface. The audio of airport manager Glen Hyde is caught on Kandy Davis’s camera, asking the driver, “Why did you pull out in front of an airplane?”
The video shows the car moving steadily across the airplane’s path, but it’s not clear if it might have stopped before entering the frame of the camera. The driver of the car said on the audio that he didn’t see the airplane. After the incident, Davis said he’s decided to give up flying. “Things like that make you reconsider what’s important and what could have happened,” he told the local WFAA News in Dallas. “I have a young daughter and a wife.” The airport manager told WFAA that he plans to meet with the FAA and look for ways to make the runway/road intersection safer.
