1998-04 · NASA ASRS report 399360
POTENTIAL CONFLICT BTWN ARR LTT AND DEP MIL ACFT NEAR CHS ARPT. CPR JET LEAVES ASSIGNED ALT BEFORE CLRED FOR APCH.
I WAS THE PF ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE JOB. FLYING WITH A LINE ORIENTED TRAINING CAPT ENRTE TO CHS; SC. THE CTLING FACILITY TOLD US TO EXPECT THE VISUAL INTO SZI. SINCE THE CAPT AND I WERE BOTH UNFAMILIAR WITH THE ARPT THE CAPT REQUESTED THE VOR APCH. NOT BEING ABLE TO REMEMBER THE EXACT WORDS THE CTLR RESPONDED WITH SOMETHING LIKE THIS: 'THE VOR APCH; YEAH; THAT'S FINE.' SO WE BEGAN A DSCNT TO OUR PUBLISHED ALT ON THE APCH. DSNDING THROUGH APPROX 2600 FT MSL THE CTLR SAID TO CLB TO 3000 FT IMMEDIATELY. THEN SAID 'CLB TO 3000 FT AND L TURN TO A HDG OF E IMMEDIATELY; THERE IS MIL TFC AT OUR 12 O'CLOCK POS; CLBING OUT OF THE AFB.' WE IMMEDIATELY CLBED AND TURNED TO THE ASSIGNED HDG. THE CAPT TOLD THE CTLR HE THOUGHT WE WERE CLRED FOR THE APCH; AT WHICH I DO NOT REALLY REMEMBER HEARING THE WORDS 'CLRED FOR THE APCH.' MY MISTAKE WAS TOTALLY RELYING ON THE CAPT. I HEARD EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOING ON BUT I GUESS NOT EVERYTHING REGISTERED. I WAS FLYING A NEW ACFT WITH A NEW CAPT; SO I WAS BUSY. THE PNF SET ME UP FOR THE APCH AND SAID TO DSND TO OUR PUBLISHED ALT. IT SEEMS AT THE TIME HE COULD HAVE TOLD ME TO FLY INTO A MOUNTAIN AND I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE. I LEARNED A VALUABLE LESSON ON THIS FLT. I NOW WILL BE SURE TO VERIFY ALL CLRNCS AT ALL TIMES AND TO PAY MORE ATTN TO DETAILS. THE MIL TFC WAS A C5; 4 1/2 MI AHEAD OF US; AS PER THE PHONE CONVERSATION WITH THE CAPT AND A CTLR SITTING NEXT TO THE CTLR WHO WAS WORKING US.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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