Narrative:

I was PIC; another current pilot was in right seat. Inbound on ILS runway 16R vny. I had been cleared to land. I had requested a long landing; but since I did not hear an acknowledgement; acceptance; or problem with that request; I was lining up for a standard landing. Descending and approaching the runway; we saw on the same runway a single-engine airplane beginning his takeoff roll; perhaps 500 ft-700 ft ahead of threshold. I said to tower; 'we see an airplane on the runway.' tower responded with something like; 'well; if you hadn't asked for a long landing; everything would have worked out.' there was a pause from the tower and then he said 'go around.' I then said 'we will go around and veer right.' I was on 16R; so I assumed an evasive right veer would do well to avoid potential traffic conflict off both the right and the left runways. As I began the go-around procedure; I noticed that the airplane on 16R was now taking off. Tower said 'go around to the left; go left;' (implying to overfly the runway 16L departure course as I understood it); I responded that I would go around left and I began to do so. At that time; I noticed another airplane; apparently just having departed runway 16L; to my left and climbing. Although I was shifting to a left veer toward the runway 16L departure course; I now had two airplanes in front me climbing very close to my altitude; one at approximately my 11:00 position and one at approximately my 1:00 position. We began an evasive hard left turn to avoid the airplane taking off from 16L. We had the 16L departure plane in sight and we then saw the 16L airplane now on our right begin a very obvious dive; and my right-seat 'co-pilot' and I discussed that he must have seen us as we heard no instructions to him from the tower and he must also have been taking evasive action; or perhaps the runway 16L controller told him to dive. (At vny; often there are different controllers; on different frequencies; for each runway simultaneously). I maneuvered to minimize my proximity to both airplanes; favoring the left as ATC had directed me to do. Soon thereafter; ATC had me join the runway 16R downwind (the airplane that had departed 16R was clear on a right crosswind departure); said he would call my base; and eventually we landed. It was clear to my 'co-pilot;' who has significantly over 1200 hours; and to me; that ATC made several errors here. Either the airplane on runway 16R should not have been taxied onto the runway; or we; despite being IFR traffic; perhaps should not have been cleared to land (on top of him). Additionally; the go-around instruction we were given; to veer to the left; put us in direct conflict with another airplane departing the parallel runway. I feel that we have no culpability here. Merely requesting a long landing (long before reaching the airport boundary) is really a favor to ATC to let them know our plans since; once cleared to land; my understanding is that we could land on any part of the runway any legal; safe way. I have heard in the past; 'if you're cleared to land; it's your runway.' that certainly wasn't the case this day; and my pre-landing runway scan paid off handsomely. ATC 'blamed' us/me for the problem since I requested a long landing. That is a non-sequitur; particularly because I was not flying so as to land long since ATC did not 'approve' a long landing anyway. Recommendation: in a multiple-runway environment; if an airplane goes around; whether directed to do so by ATC or initiated by the pilot; all runway controllers should immediately confer to guarantee that the go-around is not creating conflict(s); and should act immediately to help separate aircraft if such conflict(s) do occur. The pilot who had been cleared for takeoff on 16R before his takeoff had requested a right crosswind departure; which he implemented correctly. Heard during my subsequent VFR downwind for 16R was his call to ATC asking if he had done anything wrong (it was obvious that there was an inadvertent; potentially deadly air ballet in progress); and reiterating that he had in fact asked for a right crosswind landing. ATC reassured him correctly that he had done nothing wrong.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: VNY Tower cleared an aircraft for takeoff on Runway 16R with an aircraft on the ILS which caused that aircraft to go around setting up a near miss situation with Runway 16R and Runway 16L departing traffic.

Narrative: I was PIC; another current pilot was in right seat. Inbound on ILS Runway 16R VNY. I had been cleared to land. I had requested a long landing; but since I did not hear an acknowledgement; acceptance; or problem with that request; I was lining up for a standard landing. Descending and approaching the runway; we saw on the same runway a single-engine airplane beginning his takeoff roll; perhaps 500 FT-700 FT ahead of threshold. I said to Tower; 'We see an airplane on the runway.' Tower responded with something like; 'Well; if you hadn't asked for a long landing; everything would have worked out.' There was a pause from the Tower and then he said 'Go around.' I then said 'We will go around and veer right.' I was on 16R; so I assumed an evasive right veer would do well to avoid potential traffic conflict off both the right and the left runways. As I began the go-around procedure; I noticed that the airplane on 16R was now taking off. Tower said 'Go around to the left; go left;' (implying to overfly the Runway 16L departure course as I understood it); I responded that I would go around left and I began to do so. At that time; I noticed another airplane; apparently just having departed Runway 16L; to my left and climbing. Although I was shifting to a left veer toward the Runway 16L departure course; I now had two airplanes in front me climbing very close to my altitude; one at approximately my 11:00 position and one at approximately my 1:00 position. We began an evasive hard left turn to avoid the airplane taking off from 16L. We had the 16L departure plane in sight and we then saw the 16L airplane now on our right begin a very obvious dive; and my right-seat 'co-pilot' and I discussed that he must have seen us as we heard no instructions to him from the Tower and he must also have been taking evasive action; or perhaps the Runway 16L Controller told him to dive. (At VNY; often there are different controllers; on different frequencies; for each runway simultaneously). I maneuvered to minimize my proximity to both airplanes; favoring the left as ATC had directed me to do. Soon thereafter; ATC had me join the Runway 16R downwind (the airplane that had departed 16R was clear on a right crosswind departure); said he would call my base; and eventually we landed. It was clear to my 'co-pilot;' who has significantly over 1200 hours; and to me; that ATC made several errors here. Either the airplane on Runway 16R should not have been taxied onto the runway; or we; despite being IFR traffic; perhaps should not have been cleared to land (on top of him). Additionally; the go-around instruction we were given; to veer to the left; put us in direct conflict with another airplane departing the parallel runway. I feel that we have no culpability here. Merely requesting a long landing (long before reaching the airport boundary) is really a favor to ATC to let them know our plans since; once cleared to land; my understanding is that we could land on any part of the runway any legal; safe way. I have heard in the past; 'If you're cleared to land; it's your runway.' That certainly wasn't the case this day; and my pre-landing runway scan paid off handsomely. ATC 'blamed' us/me for the problem since I requested a long landing. That is a non-sequitur; particularly because I was not flying so as to land long since ATC did not 'approve' a long landing anyway. Recommendation: In a multiple-runway environment; if an airplane goes around; whether directed to do so by ATC or initiated by the pilot; all runway controllers should immediately confer to guarantee that the go-around is not creating conflict(s); and should act immediately to help separate aircraft if such conflict(s) do occur. The pilot who had been cleared for takeoff on 16R before his takeoff had requested a right crosswind departure; which he implemented correctly. Heard during my subsequent VFR downwind for 16R was his call to ATC asking if he had done anything wrong (it was obvious that there was an inadvertent; potentially deadly air ballet in progress); and reiterating that he had in fact asked for a right crosswind landing. ATC reassured him correctly that he had done nothing wrong.

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.