NMAC. BOTH ACFT HAD BEEN ADVISED OF CONFLICTING TFC AND TO MAINTAIN VISUAL SEPARATION. BECAUSE RPTR ACFT WAS LEVEL AND THE INTRUDER WAS DSNDING INTO THEM; THE OTHER ACFT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE VIGILANT. INSTEAD THEY FORCED THE RPTR TO TAKE EVASIVE ACTION.

Date: 1996-03 · Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing

Anomalies: conflict-nmac

Synopsis

NMAC. BOTH ACFT HAD BEEN ADVISED OF CONFLICTING TFC AND TO MAINTAIN VISUAL SEPARATION. BECAUSE RPTR ACFT WAS LEVEL AND THE INTRUDER WAS DSNDING INTO THEM; THE OTHER ACFT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE VIGILANT. INSTEAD THEY FORCED THE RPTR TO TAKE EVASIVE ACTION.

Narrative

OUR FLT WAS CLRED FROM WALLA WALLA TO MOSES LAKE. WE WERE BEING VECTORED; HDG 300 DEGS; LEVEL 10000 FT MSL; APPROX 220 KIAS; VMC. AT ABOUT 45 NM FROM MOSES LAKE; ATC ASKED IF WE HAD ACR X IN SIGHT AT 1:30 POS; 6 NM; 11000 FT. WE REPLIED THAT WE DID. ATC ASKED THE SAME OF ACR X; WHO WAS PROCEEDING NE-SW. ACR X WAS CLRED TO DSND; REF OUR ACFT. BOTH TCASII AND VISUAL SHOWED X TO BE CONVERGING. AT APPROX 4 NM; TCASII SHOWED ACR X TO BEGIN A DSCNT. WE OBSERVED ACR X TO BE ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH US; TO CROSS OUR FLT PATH AT OUR ALT. THEY REMAINED IN OUR 1:30- 2 O'CLOCK POS. I EXPECTED SOME SORT OF EVASIVE ACTION ON THEIR PART; SUCH AS LEVELING AT 500 FT ABOVE US. WE DID NOT OBSERVE ANY SUCH MOVEMENT OF THEIR ACFT. AT ABOUT 200 FT ABOVE US; AND NOW MOVING TOWARDS OUR 12 O'CLOCK POS; I MADE A RAPID ROLL TO THE R (INSIDE ACR X) AND PULLED UP. THE LAST I SAW; WE WERE CLRING CLOSE TO THEIR RUDDER AND SLIGHTLY ABOVE. WE TOPPED AT 10700 FT; THEN BEGAN A DSCNT BACK TO 10000 FT. WE INFORMED ATC OF OUR PROB AND NEED TO EVADE. IN THE PAST FEW YRS; I HAVE OBSERVED ACR X AND ONLY ACR X MAKE MAJOR MISTAKES/DEVS. THE EVENTS HAVE RANGED FROM TAXIING ONTO THE CTR OF THE RWY WHILE WE WERE LNDG IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION; TO MAKING MULTIPLE IMC UNANNOUNCED APCHS AT UNCTLED ARPT. I HAVE SPOKEN TO ACR B PLT WHO OBSERVED ACR X LAND OPPOSITE TO AIRBORNE TFC WHILE NOT BEING ON THE CTAF; CAUSING 1 ACFT TO MAKE A BALKED LNDG TO AVOID ACR X. ANOTHER PLT RELATED HOW AN ACR X FLT DEPARTED IMMEDIATELY BEHIND THEM; AFTER RECEIVING A HOLD FOR RELEASE CLRNC. WE FLY IN THE SAME TFC PATTERNS AS ACR B; ACR C; AND ACR D; FREIGHT CARRIERS; GA ACFT; AND OCCASIONALLY VERY SMALL ACFT USING THE STUDENT PLT CALL SIGN. YET THE ONLY CARRIER THAT SEEMS TO HAVE SAFETY RELATED PROBS IS ACR X. I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT ACR X SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO FLY INTO/FROM UNCTLED ARPTS. I ALSO BELIEVE THAT ACR X AND ONLY ACR X SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN VISUAL SEPARATION CLRNCS. I BELIEVE THAT THE FIRST ACR B MIDAIR COLLISION WILL BE WITH ACR X AT AN UNCTLED ARPT. I HAVE SEEN AND HEARD OF TOO MANY EVENTS THAT INDICATE THAT ACR X DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE UNCTLED AIRSPACE FLT ENVIRONMENT. I CANNOT SAY IF THE NMAC OF THIS RPT WAS DUE TO ACR X INTENTIONALLY ATTEMPTING TO MAKE A CLOSE PASS AND THEY LOST CTL OF THE SIT; OR IF THEY JUST DID NOT HAVE THE SKILL TO FLY IN A SAFE MANNER. WHATEVER THE PROB; THEY ARE NOT SAFE. I OPT FOR THE FENCE ON THE HILL; NOT THE AMBULANCE IN THE VALLEY. STOP ACR X BEFORE THEY KILL.

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