NMAC. LACK OF PROPER COM.

1995-08 · NASA ASRS report 313007

Date: 1995-08 · Aircraft: Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172 · Phase: approach

Anomalies: conflict-nmac|other-unspecified

Synopsis

NMAC. LACK OF PROPER COM.

Narrative

AFTER CANCELING IFR; AND PROCEEDING VFR INTO THE PATTERN OF SRB; A NON-TWRED ARPT; I PROCEEDED TO MAKE STANDARD CTAF RADIO CALLS IN THE PATTERN AND LAND. UPON LNDG; I WAS INFORMED BY A MIL HELI THAT HAD BEEN FLYING IN THE AREA; THAT WE HAD A NEAR MISS IN THE PROX OF THE ARPT. OBVIOUSLY I WAS SURPRISED AND I APOLOGIZED. THE CAMOUFLAGED HELI HAD BEEN FLYING A DRUG ERADICATION MISSION NEAR THE ARPT AND VERY LOW; BLENDING IN WITH TREES. THE HELI PLT SAID THAT I HAD FLOWN STRAIGHT OVER THE TOP OF HIM. OBVIOUSLY I DID NOT SEE HIM DUE TO HIS LOW ALT AND CAMOUFLAGE. HOWEVER I ALSO DID NOT HEAR ANY RADIO CALLS FROM HIM UNTIL HIS COMPLAINT. WHICH LEADS ME TO QUESTION THE MIL SOP'S DEALING WITH FLYING CAMOUFLAGE HELIS OFF MIL RTES AND NEAR NON-TWR ARPTS. I LIST AS CONTRIBUTING FACTORS THAT I HAD EARLIER HAD RADIO PROBS WITH CTR; BUT THEY SEEMED TO BE WORKING FINE AT THE TIME OF THE OCCURRENCE. THE UNICOM OPERATOR HEARD MY CALL-INS; BUT NOT THE CHOPPERS; IF ANY. I HAVE ALSO SECOND GUESSED MY JUDGEMENT TO LAND VFR IN MARGINAL CONDITIONS. I DID MAINTAIN VFR VISIBILITY (7 MI) AND CLOUD SEPARATION. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR PLT WAS RETURNING ACFT TO HOME BASE AFTER ACFT HAD RADIO REPAIR. AFTER CALLING ON CTAF ENTERING THE PATTERN AND AFTER LNDG; A MIL HELI PLT XMITTED OVER UNICOM FREQ; 'ACFT LNDG; YOU JUST FLEW OVER THE TOP OF US AND HAD A NEAR MISS.' NO DISTANCE INFO WAS PROVIDED. THE MIL HELI WAS ON A MARIJUANA ERADICATION MISSION; BUT UNTIL CALLING THE RPTR ON UNICOM; HAD NOT COMMUNICATED PREVIOUSLY TO UNICOM OPERATOR. RPTR SAYS; THOUGH HE REMAINED VFR THROUGHOUT; THE WX CONDITIONS WERE MARGINAL AND IN THE FUTURE WOULD BE MORE INCLINED TO DIVERT TO A MORE SUITABLE ARPT.

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

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