A MOONEY PVT PLT HAS AN NMAC WITH A CESSNA TYPE ACFT SE OF BJC ARPT AT 7000 FT MSL. THE CESSNA WAS A TFC WATCH ACFT. BOTH ACFT UNDER THE CLASS B AIRSPACE OF DEN; CO.

Date: 2000-01 · Aircraft: M-20 B/C Ranger · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: conflict-nmac|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|other-frequency-guarded

Synopsis

A MOONEY PVT PLT HAS AN NMAC WITH A CESSNA TYPE ACFT SE OF BJC ARPT AT 7000 FT MSL. THE CESSNA WAS A TFC WATCH ACFT. BOTH ACFT UNDER THE CLASS B AIRSPACE OF DEN; CO.

Narrative

ON JAN/XA/00 AT APPROX XB00; MY PLANE AND ANOTHER CAME RELATIVELY CLOSE TO ONE ANOTHER. I WAS FLYING A MOONEY AND THE OTHER TFC WAS A HIGH WING CESSNA THAT APPEARED TO BE OF THE 172 OR 182 FAMILY OF MODELS. THE OTHER PLANE CONVERGED ON ME FROM THE R SIDE. WHEN I DID NOTICE HIM HE WAS APPROX 100 FT TO MY R AND 30 FT BELOW. AT THIS POINT WE WERE NEARLY ABEAM EACH OTHER AND THE OTHER PLANE BANKED TOWARDS ME AND PASSED BEHIND. I PITCHED UP TO MAKE SURE HE DIDN'T HIT ME AS HE BANKED. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE AS FOLLOWS: NEITHER PLANE HAD STROBE LIGHTS ON. THE CESSNA WAS LOWER; THUS HIS NAV LIGHTS WERE MIXED IN WITH ALL THE LIGHTS OF THE DENVER METRO AREA. IT WAS DUSK; SO NAV LIGHTS AREN'T AS APPARENT AS AT NIGHT; AND ACFT ARE MORE DIFFICULT TO PICK OUT AGAINST A DARKENING SKY. I WAS FLYING SOLO AND WAS STILL MONITORING CENTENNIAL TWR; SO I HAD LITTLE TO DISTRACT MY ATTN FROM LOOKING OUTSIDE. THE ONLY SUGGESTION I HAVE FOR GREATER SAFETY IN THE FUTURE IS TO REQUIRE STROBE LIGHTS AT TIMES SUCH AS THIS -- WITHIN A CERTAIN PROX OF METRO AREAS DURING TIMES OF DARKNESS. AS I WAS ON 5 MI FINAL FOR LNDG AT JEFFCO ARPT; TFC WATCH ACFT ASKED TWR FOR MY N-NUMBER INDICATING THAT HE HAD FOLLOWED ME FROM THE POINT OF NEAR MISS; SO APPARENTLY HE WAS THE OTHER ACFT.

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