Light Sport Aircraft
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100; Flight Crew Total 2500; Flight Crew Type 32
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Vehicle
Airport; Human Factors
I was taxiing an American Legend Cub with a student to the hangar. As we neared the hangars; an airport vehicle driven by an individual resembling the airport's staff security coordinator cut between our aircraft and an FBO fuel farm while apparently en route to the main ramp area.My concerns with this are two: 1. Convention and the FAA Guide to Ground Vehicle Operations state that aircraft have the right-of-way [with respect] to ground vehicles on all airport surfaces. This includes non-movement areas. The prudent thing for an individual trained in operating on an airport surface would have been to yield the right-of-way to the aircraft. 2. Particularly in the Legend Cub; forward visibility for the instructor (who flies in the back seat) is limited. Clearly; better training must be offered to ground vehicle operators; and more binding penalties meted out when an obvious lapse in safety or judgment occurs.
While taxiing to their hangar an instructor pilot and his student aboard a tail dragger LSA suffered a close encounter with an airport ground vehicle driven by a driver either unaware of the aircraft's presence or unwilling to abide by it's right of way on the airport.