Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Private
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors; Procedure
I was performing full stop night landings at KPAE on Runway 16R/34L (34L due to winds). I made an announcement that I was in the traffic pattern on my downwind leg for 34L; very shortly after; I made my announcement that I was turning final to 34L for my visual approach. I saw white lights on the runway facing me with no apparent movement and waited a moment to see if it was some type of unannounced maintenance vehicle that would turn off the active. I made a radio call on CTAF asking who was on the runway but no one responded. The lights then lifted from the ground directly into my path; it was a B747 departing from 16R. Being as heavy as they are they tend to use a majority of the runway before rotating. I estimate that we were anywhere from 15-25 seconds from impact of one another. My aircraft is equipped with a full G1000 system; there was no activity of any other aircraft with active transponders in the area at that time. I applied full throttle and rapidly descended while diverting to the right aiming over the closed parallel Runway. I was forced to descend to avoid his wake as well as any other aircraft that may have been in the pattern (I flew towards my downwind pattern in the opposite direction but underneath the traffic pattern altitude by about 500-600 FT AGL. I was contacted on CTAF by another pilot (Captain) on the ground asking if I had managed to make it out of that situation.
The pilot of a Cessna 172 encountered an unannounced B747 taking off in the opposite direction during a night landing at Paine Field (KPAE). The pilot took evasive action to avoid the aircraft and its wake.