Narrative:

The weather on this day was clear with winds; favoring 34 departures and arrivals. I preflight my archer ii for a tour of the local area with two passengers. Their combined body weight meant I would not be adding fuel to my low fuel tanks; and since the flight would not be longer than 1 hour; I calculated the fuel burn at 15 gallons for this mission. Leaving me = hour reserve fuel. I was 2nd in line to depart on 34 do to the prevailing winds out of the north. We made a right turn out to the east towards the foothills. I was listening to 122.8 as I approached the shoreline; and only one aircraft was in the pattern for 34. At this time I broke off heading the 45 entry; and went slightly southeast for a straight-in approach 34. No further communications was heard on 122.8 so I was reassured that I owed the airfield and my straight would not interfere with any pattern work by students. South of runway 18 I made a left turn to the north and called with the follow transmission: traffic; piper archer 4 to the south straight-in 34 traffic permitting. Then 'traffic; 2 out 34; full stop landing the over short-final 34 full stop.' at this time I looked way down the runway and saw something odd; that I never saw before; of 23 + years of keeping an airplane at this airport; something red on the grass west side of the active. My front seat passenger and I said; 'what's that?' then when over the fence and full flaps we saw aid-cars pull onto the active runway. I was committed to the landing. With new 1st time passengers onboard I did not want to look anxious or make any errors; so my touch-down was as smooth as glass with no bouncing; the aircraft was all under control. In fact light braking was only needed to make the 1st turn-off. It was at that time we realized that the red object in the grass was an inverted aircraft apparently landing down-wind on 16 moments before we did. I was listening on the frequency 10 minutes out and I never heard any transmission from the crashed pilot; nor did anyone at the airport's flight school make any transmission that airfield was closed to all traffic. This is my home field and low critical fuel allowed me to make an instant decision to bring my aircraft onto the active 34 and with the wind from the north allowed a soft slow landing; my thought process rejected full power go-around; and possible crashing into the aid cars; or at least being a big distraction as I flew low over their heads. My landing was in-control and my departure from the active onto the taxiway was slow and stable.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA28 pilot landed his aircraft in a low fuel state at his home airport even after he realized on short final that an aircraft has crashed further down the runway and that emergency equipment was nearby.

Narrative: The weather on this day was clear with winds; favoring 34 departures and arrivals. I preflight my Archer II for a tour of the local area with two passengers. Their combined body weight meant I would not be adding fuel to my low fuel tanks; and since the flight would not be longer than 1 hour; I calculated the fuel burn at 15 gallons for this mission. Leaving me = hour reserve fuel. I was 2nd in line to depart on 34 do to the prevailing winds out of the North. We made a right turn out to the east towards the foothills. I was listening to 122.8 as I approached the Shoreline; and only one aircraft was in the pattern for 34. At this time I broke off heading the 45 entry; and went slightly SE for a straight-in approach 34. No further communications was heard on 122.8 so I was reassured that I owed the airfield and my straight would not interfere with any pattern work by students. South of Runway 18 I made a left turn to the North and called with the follow transmission: Traffic; Piper Archer 4 to the South straight-in 34 traffic permitting. Then 'Traffic; 2 out 34; Full stop landing the over Short-Final 34 Full Stop.' At this time I looked way down the runway and saw something odd; that I never saw before; of 23 + years of keeping an airplane at this airport; something RED on the grass West side of the active. My front seat passenger and I said; 'What's That?' Then when over the fence and full flaps we saw Aid-Cars pull onto the active runway. I was committed to the landing. With new 1st time passengers onboard I did not want to look anxious or make any errors; so my touch-down was as smooth as glass with no bouncing; the aircraft was all under control. In fact light braking was only needed to make the 1st turn-off. It was at that time we realized that the RED object in the grass was an inverted aircraft apparently landing down-wind on 16 moments before we did. I was listening on the frequency 10 minutes out and I never heard any transmission from the crashed pilot; nor did anyone at the airport's Flight School make any transmission that airfield was closed to all traffic. This is my home field and low critical fuel allowed me to make an instant decision to bring my aircraft onto the active 34 and with the wind from the North allowed a soft slow landing; My thought process rejected full power go-around; and possible crashing into the Aid Cars; or at least being a big distraction as I flew low over their heads. My landing was in-control and my departure from the active onto the taxiway was slow and stable.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.