Converging targets - I was one of 'em

denverpilot

denverpilot

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DenverPilot
I had another one of those "hmm, that was interestingly close" close encounters with another aircraft coming back from Calhan, CO (5V4) into Centennial, CO (KAPA) this weekend.

Not to make it sound like they're that common, this is maybe the third time in 400 hours I've thought... "Hmm, that was close."

I was at 8,500' north-west-bound. Basically draw a line on the map from Calhan to KAPA and you've got the route. I was 15-20 miles out from KAPA on that line. Closer to 20.

I look up and one of the KAPA club DA-20's (yeah, he went by that close - I will be nice here and not say which club, but there's only two on the field that I know of, and I could read the N-number later on...) is growing in the windshield, south-east bound.

He's slightly right of me at the same altitude. A collision wouldn't have occurred with zero input from either of us, but it would have been a damn close pass with a hell of a closing rate.

I simultaneously banked left with my left hand, to both stick a wing up and to become a "moving target" for his eyeballs, and slapped both the taxi and landing lights on simultaneously with my right hand. It was obvious that I had just become QUITE visible to him, because he countered with the same move to his left and got the wing high enough to block his view of me.

Don't know his speed, but I was cleaned up and in high-speed cruise at about 120 knots indicated. Time from seeing him to being wing-up was about 1 second, and he passed one more second after that.

I wonder how much he would have scared the pee out of me if I had been heads-down looking at something when he passed.

I heard him arriving behind me into KAPA a few minutes later. I wasn't mad, or even concerned about the eastbound flying at 8500', really... so I didn't wander over from the hangar and talk to the pilot.

I was actually doing a leg strictly VFR without Flight Following which is not my typical "norm"... ironic, I suppose that I end up nose-to-nose with another aircraft 20 miles from the airport.

Another gentle reminder from fate to keep those eyeballs out the window, I suppose.
 
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On my solo flight as a student to get from my airport to the checkride's airport (two days ago)..... I "almost" had a mid-air. It was not quite as bad as yours but I have never been so close to another plane. Good thing I was looking out the window. I had to bank left because his path was on my right, even though we are taught "both planes turn right". I knew that plane too (have seen it before at my airport). It all happened so fast - I did not have time to be scared.
 
I was solo in the clubs SGS 2-33A about 3000ft AGL just north east of the airfield. I did not see him coming, but I HEARD HIM pass. I looked to see a small twin disappearing to the west. He was face on to the setting sun approaching me, so he never saw me in the low sun.

I also had a train scare the crap out of me, I was circleing in about the same area, getting ready to enter the pattern when a train blew his horn for the railroad crossing. WHATTHE?? Dang that was loud.

Gliders can be so quiet.
 
Why the avoidance to the left? Had I seen you at the same time we may have traded paint.
 
You shoulda rolled down the window and high-fived the other pilot.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
On my solo flight as a student to get from my airport to the checkride's airport (two days ago)..... I "almost" had a mid-air. ...................... It all happened so fast - I did not have time to be scared.
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You don't have time to think up there....if you think...you're dead
Well that's a hell of a gamble with a 30 million dollar plane Lieutenant

-Maverick and Charlie
 
EdFred said:
Why the avoidance to the left? Had I seen you at the same time we may have traded paint.
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If that was for me, because turning right would take me directly into his flight path.

As it stood we'd have passed to each other's right sides. Very very closely. Approximately one full wingspan. (Closer than a loose formation flight training ride last year.)

I wanted to open that gap not close it into a head-on. If he'd have turned hard right, y'all might be planning to attend my funeral. I know this.

A right turn by me without a radical climb or descent would have been a mid-air or way too damn close to it for my tastes.

I was also subconsciously thinking about pushing a bit knowing that most startled pilots will tend to pull. Especially in something with a stick.

Right hand had slid from the light switches to the throttle subconsciously too, apparently my brain's next move would have been to shove forward with the left hand and chop throttle with the right hand, but it was over with faster than that at the closure rate we had.

I'm kinda thinking if/when there's a "next time" I won't be as timid. I think know that aircraft well enough not to actually shove hard and overstress it in the negative G direction, but a brisk but controlled 300' altitude change with a wing rolling up is one of those pitching plus rolling maneuvers that I prefer not to do at 120 knots due to the stresses involved.

Probably better to stomp a rudder pedal but I'll admit my "fly smoothly and coordinated" voice in my head over-rode that thought as fast as it came to mind. Good or bad, that training stuck.

I was the first to maneuver, meaning he didn't see me until about one full second after I saw him.

It was barely enough time for a judgement call for me and more of a "holy crap" reaction for him, I'm sure.

I do remember a spilt second of thinking about turning right to do the "standard" thing. It was vetoed by my eyeballs saying straight and level was going to miss, and the next thought was instinctively to open the distance toward the only appropriate escape route.

I guess another fair option would have been a climbing turn which would have kept my visibility of him since I'm high-wing and given him a better view of me in his canopy.

I was actually mildly surprised to find myself within ten feet of my original altitude after the pass.

We both racked up to at least 30 degrees of bank. I think he went more, closer to 45. I wasn't looking at the tick marks on the AI, that's for sure! ;)

Hard to say what was best. We ended up doing what worked.

I'm just glad we didn't swap paint and airplane parts over the prairie.

And not trying to be too dramatic about it. I've heard much closer "close call" stories from better pilots. This one was close enough for me.
 
Looking back after the fact, do you think achieving horizontal separation by turning /banking was better than achieving vertical separation by a quick push or pull?
 
Gotcha, from the original post it looked like you were lined up nose to nose instead of him slightly offset to the right. You obviously did the right, er correct, thing.
 
I had just called midfield left downwind for rwy 14 last week when someone on the ground was taxiing to 32 (right traffic) for departure. At that point, he asked what rwy was in use, and we told him 14. I had just turned base and was about to turn final when he started his takeoff roll... on 32. At that point the CFI took the controls and we did a right turn in a hurry to get back to the 45 for pattern entry. Never saw the guy or heard from him again.

My question at the time was, would it have been better for us to aim for an upwind leg on the other side of the field? Assuming the other guy would fly a right crosswind leg (who knows, he may have flown straight out), it seems that our right turn could have put us in the same chunk of sky as he. The other plane was faster and could probably outclimb us.
 
Doggtyred said:
Looking back after the fact, do you think achieving horizontal separation by turning /banking was better than achieving vertical separation by a quick push or pull?
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I honestly don't know. Thoughts welcome. I think a simultaneous altitude and angle change gives the most distance the fastest, but I also wanted to keep the other aircraft in sight at all times to see what his reaction was.
 
denverpilot said:
I honestly don't know. Thoughts welcome. I think a simultaneous altitude and angle change gives the most distance the fastest, but I also wanted to keep the other aircraft in sight at all times to see what his reaction was.
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One near hit was a Cirrus on departure while I was entering downwind to land. He was on a IFR plan and apparently very confused about frequencies. I know he was head down, eyes inside because I could see him as he climbed toward me.

Without much thinking I yanked and banked up and left. I lost sight and never saw him again. He passed below me left to right. Several factors why I didn't see him sooner; TWR was calling him at a different location, higher altitude and his two position reports were wildly inaccurate. Also, I had been judging the distance between me and the traffic entering on base. It was real close.

Anothe near miss was actually uneventful. A Stearman giving rides at my altitude. I had him in sight while transiting the area in Class G. We were the only two in the area. I was very surprised to see him turn my direction then roll to wings level. I turned into him to pass behind him (we were converging). Then as I was about to pass at his 6 o'clock in a shallow climb I saw him snap a hard bank toward me. I kept my speed up just in case and now was the time to trade speed for alt so I pulled into a steeper climb. I had already thought that a change in alt would be safer.

The difference of those two was one was unexpected and the action was spontaneous. The 2nd allowed me to think of how to meet the threat even though his maneuvers were unanticipated. An important factor with the Stearman was I wanted to maintain a visual on him because he was all over the sky. He wasn't responding to my radio calls although he was reporting his alt in the blind.
 
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NYC airspace has brought me close enough to pas the Grey Poupon more than a few times. I never go out of here VFR without flight following. It's not the end all, but it has helped save my hide on more than one occasion.
 
i got buzzed by a business jet in southern kansas once, while i was in the glider. it came above me from about 7 o'clock. first indication i had was when its shadow passed over the glider. second was the noise. then i saw it. needless to say my heart jumped to about 200.

this was the flight: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1874513

on the altitude view there are little spikes of yellow. those are from the noise detector on the logger. I think the spike at 21:10 was me saying "HOLY F**K!!!!"
 
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