PLT OF C182 ON FINAL APCH AT A NON TWR ARPT SIGHTS AN ACFT OPPOSITE DIRECTION; SAME ALT; ABOUT ONE FOURTH MI TO HIS L. A GAR IS EXECUTED.
Synopsis
PLT OF C182 ON FINAL APCH AT A NON TWR ARPT SIGHTS AN ACFT OPPOSITE DIRECTION; SAME ALT; ABOUT ONE FOURTH MI TO HIS L. A GAR IS EXECUTED.
Narrative
I WAS RETURNING FROM A FLT TO OSC IN CESSNA SKYLANE. I WAS ON AN IFR FLT PLAN IN VMC. APPROX 15 MI N OF ANN ARBOR; WHILE IN RADIO CONTACT WITH DETROIT ON 118.95; I CANCELED IFR; SQUAWKED 1200 AND BEGAN SETTING UP MY VFR APCH TO RWY 6 AT ARB. PRIOR TO CANCELING IFR I HAD ASKED THE CTLR WHICH RWY WAS IN USE AT ARB. HE SAID HE THOUGHT THAT RWY 24 WAS BEING USED EARLIER; BUT THAT YIP WAS USING RWY 5 BASED ON WINDS OF 020 DEGS AT 10 KTS. I TUNED IN THE YIP ATIS AN VERIFIED THIS. I ASSUMED; PERHAPS INCORRECTLY; THAT RWY 6 WOULD BE IN USE AT ARB. I MISTAKENLY TUNED IN 123.0 UNICOM INSTEAD OF 120.3 CTAF AND XMITTED MY INTENTIONS 5 MI N; DOWNWIND; BASE; AND FINAL FOR RWY 6. BECAUSE I WAS NOT ON THE PROPER CTAF FREQ I DID NOT HEAR ANY OTHER TFC. WHILE APCHING THE ARPT AND ON DOWNWIND; I LOOKED FOR OTHER TFC IN THE LNDG PATTERN; ON THE TXWYS AND ON THE RWY; AND DID NOT SEE ANY OTHER ACFT. I ASKED MY 3 PAX TO VERIFY IF THEY COULD SEE ANY OTHER ACFT. I TURNED ON ALL LIGHTS AVAILABLE; LNDG; TAXI; STROBES AND BEACON PRIOR TO TURNING FINAL APCH. APPROX 1 MI ON FINAL I SAW AN UNLIGHTED ACFT APPROX 1/4 MI OFF TO MY L. I ASSUMED IT HAD JUST TAKEN OFF FROM RWY 24. I EXECUTED A GAR TO THE R SIDE OF RWY 6 AND THEN PERFORMED A NORMAL LNDG ON RWY 24. THERE ARE MANY PRECAUTIONS DESIGNED INTO THE ATC SYS. I REALIZE THAT I MADE A SERIOUS MISTAKE. THE SYS HOWEVER DID WORK BECAUSE I WAS DISPLAYING ALL AVAILABLE LIGHTING ON MY ACFT AND THE OCCUPANT OF THE PT WAS ABLE TO SEE ME. I COULD NOT SEE HIS ACFT UNTIL IT WAS ABOVE THE HORIZON TO MY L WHEN I WAS ON FINAL APCH. I REALIZE HE WAS NOT REQUIRED TO DISPLAY POS LIGHTS SINCE IT WAS BEFORE OFFICIAL SUNSET. IF HE HAD BEEN DISPLAYING STANDARD LIGHTS; HE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE VISIBLE TO ME. IN ADDITION; THERE IS THE QUESTION OF HIS PERFORMING WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A DOWNWIND TKOF.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.