What happened
On April 29, 20HD, at approximately 1507 EDT, a near midair collision occurred at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE) in Florida. The incident involved an Airbus A319, operating as AAY803, and a Cessna 337, operating as N370SD.
While the crew of AAY803 was performing an initial climb from runway 18, they observed the Cessna 337 crossing directly overhead. The captain of AAY803 reported that the aircraft was climbing rapidly due to being light. Upon seeing the other aircraft at the 1:30 position, the crew took evasive action by leveling off and maintaining an altitude of 200 feet, leaving the landing gear down. At the time of the closest proximity, the Airbus A319 was at 200 feet and the Cessna 337 was at 300 feet, resulting in a vertical separation of only 100 feet and a lateral separation of 369 feet.
Prior to the event, the local controller had instructed the pilot of N370SD to change from a left downwind for runway 22 to a right downwind. Shortly after, the controller cleared AAY803 for takeoff from runway 18. There were no injuries and no damage to either aircraft.
The investigation
FAA radar data confirmed that N370SD overflew runway 18 at an altitude of 300 feet while AAY803 was departing runway 18 at 200 feet. The investigation noted that the local controller's instructions for the Cessna 337 to enter a right downwind leg placed the aircraft closer to the runway intersections than expected. Furthermore, the pilot of N370SD was not flying a standard traffic pattern altitude, and the controller did not advise a specific altitude, as PIE does not have a charted traffic pattern altitude.