Does head on traffic shake you up

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evapilotaz

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Drone airspace abuser
I was out flying Saturday 5 miles out from a non towered airport approaching to land. There was an airplane slightly above me maybe 1 mile out approching head on. I'm not the best at judging distance. I turned right with a 500fpm Decent.
The airplane maintained course. Not sure if he saw me. It shook me up a little. Is this a close call or am I overreacting. A mid air is my biggest fear.

David
 
A mid air is my biggest fear too. I almost quit flying because of one. Fortunately I was an hour away from minimums for my PPL checkride. If it was earlier in my flying I would have stopped.
 
It makes me a little nervous when time has gone by and I still don't see it
 
With a low wing, I'm more worried about traffic below me when I'm descending.

Head-on traffic is hard to judge sometimes. Often I'll see another aircraft a couple miles ahead, but it's hard to tell whether it's flying toward me or away from me. You did exactly the right thing.
 
I was going to a flyin at this airport. I was hesitant to go because lots of airplanes coming in and out of the airport. I don't think my passenger knew what was up. He was low wing and I was high wing. I don't have a lot of hours just shy of 200hr. First time this happened. I'm always looking out for airplanes.
 
If the two of you were flying typical bugsmashers and it was indeed ~1mile then figure you were about 15 seconds away from a midair (2 miles per minute in both directions).
 
Asicer there's not much time for reaction is there. I believe if we both maintained course we would have been close but not hit. It just a freaky feeling seeing an airplane coming towards you.
 
I get the heebie jeebies on climb out from uncontrolled airspace because I have to pass the even altitudes on my way to the odd ones, and vice versa. I had the same head on thing happen to me and it makes you wonder when you break right and the other plane does nothing.
 
Had that happen right after I started flying again, last fall.
I'm in the pattern, had turned to base, and this jack wagon just comes flashing by at my altitude in the opposite direction, passing a couple of hundred feet away to the inside of me. No announcements, no answers to my radio "inquiries", he just continued obliviously on his way.
 
Zeldman said:
More like wakes me up...
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Yeah, take your pick...a big cup of Joe or another airplane within 500 feet. :D:eek: (I pick coffee every time.)

Years ago, I had an uncomfortable head-on situation where I was right where I was supposed to be, 4500' heading northwest, and sure enough, this guy was right at my altitude in the opposite direction. A really good scan is your best friend!!
 
Head on is hard, as is converging from the side with no relative motion (flying the same speed). Stuff just goes from a tiny spec to growing rapidly in the window. My closest was the side converging thing, both headed to the same airport.

You don't look out the side windows as often. When you do and an airplane is growing in it, you gotta turn and climb or descend, right freaking now.

The other intersting one was a day when I was about 800' AGL over farmland (just being lazy on altitude) and putting along and the crop duster went under me. Haha.

I suspect he had me in sight the whole time and it was no big deal at all to him or her, but they were in transit to a field, not spraying, and they went under me at about 300 AGL.

It was kinda a "whoa!"... he passes under, on pretty much a 90 degree course to mine... "damn, that was cool..." moment.
 
Yeah, head on is the tough one. Fortunately, any maneuver to break the trend gets you safe. Also fortunately, people aren't usually moving that fast in the 5k' and below crowd. I'm surprised that with all the very latest avionics and things people are putting in their GA aircraft that TCAS isn't more widely proliferated.
 
Traffic advisories on my GTN750 are a real eye opener... I see the traffic on the screen look for it and many times never spot it.... Saturday there was traffic -500 about 1 mile and at 1 O'clock... heading in the opposite direction... I looked and looked until it passed .... never saw it. Also had a target at the same altitude, following behind me, for 15 miles or so... That's unnerving! except that the distance never closed between us so must have been another bug smasher out for a hamburger. The same day, Got one of those "TRAFFIC ALERT" warnings... looked up just as a Mooney passed right over me +400' ... GEEZE!
 
I fkew into Fort Scott, KS(KFSK) a few years sgo. I was on downwind and dividing my attention between landing and scanning for traffic. I saw a plane nearly head on, no relative movement, and it looked like it was about to get big quickly. I started to make an evasive maneuver, and then realized it was a very realistic looking scale RC being flown from a nearby field.
 
GeorgeC said:
It's not the traffic I can see that worries me.
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Me either.. A couple weeks ago, I was flying and started getting ADS-B traffic on my tablet so someone around me must have been broadcasting out. My heading is 355, ground track is 360, at 4500 feet. Another target pops up 10 miles straight north of my position, ground track looked about 180 on the display, also 4500. I start looking. now we're 5 miles, still head on. I turn on every light I've got, look harder, heart rate increasing. 3 miles I get a traffic warning on the tablet. I stay at the same altitude and heading, I knew there was nothing directly in front of me anyways, figured that was better than an abrupt maneuver up or down. A minute or two later, the target is behind me, still at the same altitude. Never saw whoever it was.
 
LED landing lights are nice in that they're bright and you can leave them on in flight.
 
Flying to SAC wakes me up every once in a while, as it's almost exactly north, so there is legal almost-opposite-direction traffic. And a lot of it at times. I've gotten in the habit of flying under 3000 at an odd altitude after a couple of close calls. And flight following. Saved my bacon with a Mooney I couldn't see fast enough once.
 
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Meh, first one to flinch loses.
 
FredFenster said:
Me either.. A couple weeks ago, I was flying and started getting ADS-B traffic on my tablet so someone around me must have been broadcasting out. My heading is 355, ground track is 360, at 4500 feet. Another target pops up 10 miles straight north of my position, ground track looked about 180 on the display, also 4500. I start looking. now we're 5 miles, still head on. I turn on every light I've got, look harder, heart rate increasing. 3 miles I get a traffic warning on the tablet. I stay at the same altitude and heading, I knew there was nothing directly in front of me anyways, figured that was better than an abrupt maneuver up or down. A minute or two later, the target is behind me, still at the same altitude. Never saw whoever it was.
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This is the most unnerving to me. Seeing the target on the G1000, and trying to find it and never finding it, having it go by with the traffic aural alert. I hate that. But countless times more than that, it's helped me see other aircraft during my scan that I might have otherwise missed, or at least not noticed until they were much more of a factor.
 
evapilotaz said:
It shook me up a little. Is this a close call or am I overreacting. A mid air is my biggest fear.

David
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From a pure numbers perspective, a mid-air collision is one of the least common methods (#9 out of top 10) of killing people in GA aircraft. Our biggest fear should be loss of control or CFIT, since that seems most likely to kill us. Of course our brains don't work like that, and mid-airs frighten us because its impossible to see everything 360°, above, below, and behind us at all times. There are plenty of technology-based solutions but they are not full-proof either. At the end of the day, everyone has to do their part to make sure they reduce the possibility of a collision--keep your eyes outside, fly the recommended procedures at the right altitudes, and make yourself conspicuous. Approach mid-airs the way you approach other GA risks: identify the risk, evaluate the risk, and mitigate accordingly.
 
just think of all the times.....you didn't see that other guy. :eek:

ignorance is bliss...:D
 
If I'm in controlled airspace decsending into an uncontrolled field, I like to ask ATC to advise me if they see any 1200 targets in the vicinity of the airport before I cancel with them. Gives a heads up if there is traffic and they happen to not be on the radios.

Uncontrolled airspace requires eagle vision. :eek2:
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
just think of all the times.....you didn't see that other guy. :eek:

ignorance is bliss...:D
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Yep. Too many times ATC calls out traffic for me that I never see. :oops: I see most of it, but not all.

The worst is when ATC calls out VFR traffic 500' below me while I'm in the clouds and the ceiling is 1,000-1,500' below me. :eek:
 
I get shook up thinking of the ones I never see (or know about).
 
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Scares the poop.jpeg out of me!
 
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I was in the pattern on Friday afternoon. Two other aircraft were inbound and made the call to the tower about 10-15 seconds apart, "8 west at 3500" (or whatever it was, both a/c reported the same). Tower was trying to get them to see each other and it took quite a while for them to sort it out.
 
2 incidents for me.....3,500 ft along the base of the mountains by CCB and ONT.....had flight following who went a little nuts "traffic twelve o clock less than a mile".....he's demanding a right turn which I did.......I am straining out the window and never saw a thing. Next time 7,500 ft southbound San Joaquin and flight following pipes up "traffic 3 o'clock right to left same altitude" I looked and there was a Cherokee sure enough......I sat there like a stooge watching this guy fly exactly at my altitude right off the front of my nose about 100ft away......I could see the guy plain as day.......we both were stooges and did nothing......could have been a mid-air big as life and it still gives me the willies til this day........should have climbed or turned or something instead of being a bumpkin.......
 
Matthew said:
I was in the pattern on Friday afternoon. Two other aircraft were inbound and made the call to the tower about 10-15 seconds apart, "8 west at 3500" (or whatever it was, both a/c reported the same). Tower was trying to get them to see each other and it took quite a while for them to sort it out.
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I'm always a little on edge when climbing out of KIXD to the Southwest. I usually monitor K34 traffic but they have a lot of guys out there who are NORDO.
 
My closest call was about 1995, we were fishing in a Billfish tournament in Panama City FL, I took the boat captain out with a portable GPS or Loran to look for color changes and weed lines in the gulf. We were about 60 miles off shore when we spotted a big patch of grass, which generally holds bait and fish, I was in a right turn at about 1500 ft when I came nose to nose with an Turbo Commander doing the same thing. We were within 300-400 feet of each other and I think scared the poo out of all parties! :eek::eek: When we got back to the airport I talked to the other pilot, we kind of laughed a nervous laugh and both denied seeing the weed line! :)
 
After reading this thread I think I'd rather see head on traffic in the air rather than on the highway. In the air you have a chance of getting out of the way. Not always that lucky on the road.
 
labbadabba said:
I'm always a little on edge when climbing out of KIXD to the Southwest. I usually monitor K34 traffic but they have a lot of guys out there who are NORDO.
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Yeah, coming or going it's a nervous time for me, too.
 
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