Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90; Flight Crew Total 1840; Flight Crew Type 600
Communication Breakdown; Training / Qualification; Confusion
Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Incursion Runway
General None Reported / Taken
Airport; Human Factors
We were departing IFR for an Instrument training flight. The airport was closing in 2.5 hours for runway maintenance which supplied substantial schedule pressure. We completed our runup and taxied to the hold line to depart on Runway XX. Runway XX is over 5;000 FT long by 100 wide.A Cirrus had just entered the pattern for landing and we decided to wait to depart. I instructed my student to call for our departure clearance when the Cirrus passed the runway threshold in front of us. We were monitoring CTAF and noticed the Cirrus was flying nearly 3 miles downwind before turning base. At this point his radio calls became sporadic. As the Cirrus crossed the threshold; I instructed my student to call for our departure clearance which took the usual minute or so to hear and read back. Afterwards; I looked left down the runway and could no longer see the Cirrus. I instructed the student to announce our takeoff on CTAF; after switching transmitters and to start the takeoff roll. After we hit about 40 KTS; I could see one of the strobes on the Cirrus moving left across the runway. They appeared to be at the far end of the runway. I told my student to continue as we would be airborne long before we could get stopped. At that point the Cirrus announced that he was still on the runway. We passed over the top of him at around 100 FT AGL. I told the Cirrus we were coming over the top of him. He was actually about 3/4 of the way down the runway and [appeared to be] parked. Before we switched to departure; the Cirrus announced that he was remaining on the runway! Why would you park on an active runway at dusk?
[Narrative 2 contained no additional information.]
The instructor and student pilot of a C-172 departing on an instrument training flight at dusk had a close encounter with a Cirrus that had landed a minute or more previously but had not cleared the runway.