Right of way

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wind_shear

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was flying yesterday below the floor of class charlie at 1500ftmsl heading southeast bound I had traffic at my 12-1 o’clock same altitude opposite direction. I don’t think he ever saw me because he never altered his course but I elected to alter my course to the left because if I went to the right it most likely would have put me into the surface area of the charlie (wasn’t on FF) and I wasn’t sure what said traffic was going to do. technically this goes against 91.113 for approaching head on but it just seemed like the safer option to avoid a midair and busting airspace. I guess for this example you would just have to use your best judgment for safety of flight
 
91.3 overrides everything else. No bent metal, no spilled coffee? No problem!

That being said, I have no problem busting airspace if there were really no other / better options.
 
I’ve had several ‘encounters’ recently where a same altitude opposite direction adsb target made zero attempt at avoidance. I chalked them up to slackers with only adsb out as opposed to them just not giving a f—-.
 
wind_shear said:
was flying yesterday below the floor of class charlie at 1500ftmsl heading southeast bound I had traffic at my 12-1 o’clock same altitude opposite direction. I don’t think he ever saw me because he never altered his course but I elected to alter my course to the left because if I went to the right it most likely would have put me into the surface area of the charlie (wasn’t on FF) and I wasn’t sure what said traffic was going to do. technically this goes against 91.113 for approaching head on but it just seemed like the safer option to avoid a midair and busting airspace. I guess for this example you would just have to use your best judgment for safety of flight
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I would never let the proximity of the Charlie enter into my decision in a situation like that. There could be something about the angle of the closure, or something else, that dictates a left turn, if so, then left it is. But I would guard against the other plane happening to see me just as I was starting to make the turn, but the other pilot doesn't see me doing it yet, and that pilot is wired to turn right in this situation. Now we both went the same way and it gets a little dicier now to decide on the next move. I have no fear of colliding with lines on a map. Other airplanes? Yeah.
 
luvflyin said:
I would never let the proximity of the Charlie enter into my decision in a situation like that. There could be something about the angle of the closure, or something else, that dictates a left turn, if so, then left it is. But I would guard against the other plane happening to see me just as I was starting to make the turn, but the other pilot doesn't see me doing it yet, and that pilot is wired to turn right in this situation. Now we both went the same way and it gets a little dicier now to decide on the next move. I have no fear of colliding with lines on a map. Other airplanes? Yeah.
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Good point. The left turn just seemed like the safer option. The traffic was already off to my right a bit and appeared to be moving more to the west. I just didn’t want to chance making the right turn slightly toward him and he never sees me. I have a tendency to over analyze and dwell after I’m on the ground. Always wanting to exercise the best airmanship I can
 
luvflyin said:
I would never let the proximity of the Charlie enter into my decision in a situation like that. There could be something about the angle of the closure, or something else, that dictates a left turn, if so, then left it is. But I would guard against the other plane happening to see me just as I was starting to make the turn, but the other pilot doesn't see me doing it yet, and that pilot is wired to turn right in this situation. Now we both went the same way and it gets a little dicier now to decide on the next move. I have no fear of colliding with lines on a map. Other airplanes? Yeah.
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Yup…pretty much what happened with the DHL midair, except that was vertical changes.
 
luvflyin said:
Oh. That one.:(
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I knew of this accident, but didn't know this part. Yikes

A year and a half after the crash, on 24 February 2004, Peter Nielsen, the ATC on duty at the time of the collision, was murdered in an apparent act of revenge by Vitaly Kaloyev, a Russian citizen whose wife and two children had been killed in the accident​
 
WDD said:
I knew of this accident, but didn't know this part. Yikes

A year and a half after the crash, on 24 February 2004, Peter Nielsen, the ATC on duty at the time of the collision, was murdered in an apparent act of revenge by Vitaly Kaloyev, a Russian citizen whose wife and two children had been killed in the accident​
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Yup…the original loss of life wasn’t big enough. :(
 
eman1200 said:
I’ve had several ‘encounters’ recently where a same altitude opposite direction adsb target made zero attempt at avoidance. I chalked them up to slackers with only adsb out as opposed to them just not giving a f—-.
Click to expand...
Maybe they had ADS-B In and simply recognized your N#.
 
I think a new term is evolving.
When GPS came along with the magenta line we started referring to "flying the magenta line".
It became a somewhat derogatory phrase for pilots who wouldn't or couldn't navigate any other way.
The other day I referred to someone as an "adsb flyer", and realized I was using it to describe a guy who never looked out the window of his plane.
He almost ran me down from behind, and then yelled at me because I don't have ADS-B in my PA-17, so it was my fault.
Devolving skills, and evolving language.
 
I kind of disagree with the fault simply being pilots who don't know how to look for traffic.

I am 59 years old and still have a 2nd class medical (for some reason wanting to stay qualified to fly under my Commercial certificate) and I find myself not being able to spot traffic like I did when I was 20 years younger. I can still see an eye chart, but that is not the same as being able to "see" in a real world sense. I can't explain it. I think there might be alot of old timers like me who are in the same situation with their eyesight - chartwise still 20/20 but functionally something less?

In regard to busting airspace - I agree with the others - if it was a true "head on" turn right and bust whatever airspace there is B,C, TFR, etc. Otherwise it could be disasterous.
 
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