Cessna 172 pilot back taxiing to utilize full runway length at a non-towered airport at night must a...

Narrative:

I taxied to a position just short of runway 25 on the south side taxiway closest to the departure end of the runway; approximately 100 feet from it. I performed my before-takeoff check and engine run-up. Right after I finished the run-up; I heard a transmission from an aircraft reporting 4 miles out on the downwind for runway 25. I thought it was an unusual report but I did acknowledge it on the CTAF/unicom frequency and transmitted my intentions to back-taxi for departure to the beginning of the displaced threshold of runway 25. I wanted to use the entire length of the available runway. I looked in the direction of the final approach to runway 25; made sure it was clear and started to back-taxi. I had back-taxied a distance of less than 50 feet when I suddenly visually acquired the position lights of an aircraft on very-short final to runway 25 that appeared out of nowhere. The aircraft in question had no other lights on. I immediately applied full power; veered to the right and exited the runway as fast as I could. Unfortunately; I could not avoid going onto a pile of rocks covering a flooded ditch next to the runway. The down-sloped ground was wet and soggy and braking action was less than optimal. The area was not lighted. After landing; the other aircraft taxied back to runway 25 on the north parallel taxiway; the pilot briefly looked in our direction and immediately took off. I did not see a standard size tail number. My propeller did not strike the ground and my own close inspection of the blade tips did not show any damage. I also inspected the main and nose landing gear and did not see any damage. The nose wheel pant was seriously damaged. I understand this incident resulted in loss of separation between the two aircraft; one of which was mine; both horizontally and vertically. Depending on the point of view it can be considered a runway incursion or a display of poor traffic pattern and night time flying technique. This incident could have been prevented if the other aircraft would have flown a standard traffic pattern; had lighted anti-collision and landing lights and its pilot had correctly reported his position..

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna 172 Pilot back taxiing to utilize full runway length at a non-towered airport at night must abandon the runway when a landing aircraft appears on short final.

Narrative: I taxied to a position just short of Runway 25 on the south side taxiway closest to the departure end of the runway; approximately 100 feet from it. I performed my before-takeoff check and engine run-up. Right after I finished the run-up; I heard a transmission from an aircraft reporting 4 miles out on the downwind for Runway 25. I thought it was an unusual report but I did acknowledge it on the CTAF/Unicom frequency and transmitted my intentions to back-taxi for departure to the beginning of the displaced threshold of Runway 25. I wanted to use the entire length of the available runway. I looked in the direction of the final approach to Runway 25; made sure it was clear and started to back-taxi. I had back-taxied a distance of less than 50 feet when I suddenly visually acquired the position lights of an aircraft on very-short final to Runway 25 that appeared out of nowhere. The aircraft in question had no other lights on. I immediately applied full power; veered to the right and exited the runway as fast as I could. Unfortunately; I could not avoid going onto a pile of rocks covering a flooded ditch next to the runway. The down-sloped ground was wet and soggy and braking action was less than optimal. The area was not lighted. After landing; the other aircraft taxied back to Runway 25 on the north parallel taxiway; the pilot briefly looked in our direction and immediately took off. I did not see a standard size tail number. My propeller did not strike the ground and my own close inspection of the blade tips did not show any damage. I also inspected the main and nose landing gear and did not see any damage. The nose wheel pant was seriously damaged. I understand this incident resulted in loss of separation between the two aircraft; one of which was mine; both horizontally and vertically. Depending on the point of view it can be considered a runway incursion or a display of poor traffic pattern and night time flying technique. This incident could have been prevented if the other aircraft would have flown a standard traffic pattern; had lighted anti-collision and landing lights and its pilot had correctly reported his position..

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.

Attributes
ACN	846529
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	47N.Airport
State Reference	NJ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Sea
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 80 Flight Crew Total 1700 Flight Crew Type 1400
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Critical Ground Excursion Runway
Miss Distance	Horizontal 1200 Vertical 100

Cessna 172 pilot back taxiing to utilize full runway length at a non-towered airport at night must abandon the runway when a landing aircraft appears on short final.