NMAC ON FINAL APCH BTWN ROTARY WINGED TFC AND A MOONEY.

Date: 1994-03 · Aircraft: Helicopter

Anomalies: conflict-nmac|deviation-track-heading-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|other-unspecified

Synopsis

NMAC ON FINAL APCH BTWN ROTARY WINGED TFC AND A MOONEY.

Narrative

EVENT TOOK PLACE DURING MY INITIAL CFI R-HAND CHK RIDE. I WAS IN CLOSED TFC (L) FOR RWY 11L. I HAD BEEN 'CLRED FOR THE OPTION' AT AN EARLIER PHASE OF THE PATTERN. I BELIEVE AT XWIND OR EARLY DOWNWIND; AND NEITHER THE EXAMINER NOR I RECALL RECEIVING AN UPDATE ON OUR POS OR SEQUENCE IN THE PATTERN. THE TFC; A MOONEY M20J; WAS SIGHTED ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY BY MYSELF AND THE EXAMINER. I THEN PERFORMED A L TURN TO EVADE TFC; AND THE MOONEY MADE A R CLBING GAR. AT THIS POINT; WE QUERIED THE TWR AS TO WHO WAS CLRED FOR LNDG. THE CTLR INFORMED US THAT THE MOONEY WAS IN FACT CLRED AHEAD OF US. THE CTLR THEN CLRED US TO LAND. AS I STATED EARLIER; THE CLRNC WE RECEIVED WAS NOT UPDATED TO '#2 FOLLOWING MOONEY;' OR ANY SIMILAR STATEMENT. FLYING AS THE INSTRUCTOR IN THE L SEAT; I FOUND IT INTERESTING THAT THE TFC; WHICH WAS AT 2 O'CLOCK LOW; WAS SEEN BY BOTH MYSELF AND THE EXAMINER AT THE SAME TIME. I FEEL THAT ONE CONTRIBUTING FACTOR OF THIS EXPERIENCE IS THE LACK OF EDUCATION CTLRS RECEIVE REGARDING THE CAPABILITIES AND PREFERRED METHOD OF OP OF HELIS. BECAUSE A HELI PATTERN IS RELATIVELY CLOSE; SHORT; AND STEEP; FIXED WING TFC ON FINAL MAY BE HARD TO SEE. IN REGARDS TO OUR PROX TO THE TFC; NO EXCESSIVE CTL INPUTS WERE NEEDED TO AVOID A COLLISION. I BELIEVE THAT THIS INCIDENT SHOWS HOW CAREFUL PLTS MUST BE IN AVOIDING TFC IN ARPT ENVIRONMENTS. EVEN AT A POINT WHEN I WAS DOING MY VERY BEST TO DEMONSTRATE SAFE OP; AND PUT MY 'BEST FOOT FORWARD;' IT IS VERY EASY TO MISS TFC IN A BUSY TRAINING ENVIRONMENT.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.