A BELL 212 COMMERCIAL PLT HAS AN NMAC WITH A TRAINING BEECHCRAFT WHILE PERFORMING AN UNAUTH UNCOORD TKOF NEAR THE DEP END OF RWY 18 AT MWH; WA.

Date: 2000-07 · Aircraft: Iroquois 212/214

Anomalies: atc-issue-all-types|conflict-nmac|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|other-unauth-ticof

Synopsis

A BELL 212 COMMERCIAL PLT HAS AN NMAC WITH A TRAINING BEECHCRAFT WHILE PERFORMING AN UNAUTH UNCOORD TKOF NEAR THE DEP END OF RWY 18 AT MWH; WA.

Narrative

I CALLED GRANT COUNTY (MOSES LAKE; WA) GND CTL ON 121.9 REQUESTING 'S DEP TO REDMOND; OR; AT OR BELOW 6500 FT.' THE TWR/GND CTLR; BEING THE SAME VOICE; RESPONDED WITH 'STAND BY.' HE CALLED BACK APPROX 2 MINS LATER ASKING WHAT I WANTED. I AGAIN ASKED FOR A 'S DEP FROM THE CUSTOMS RAMP.' CTLR RESPONDED; 'SQUAWK XXXX; DEP FREQ 126.4; CONTACT TWR ON UH...12...STAND BY...ARE YOU READY TO GO NOW?...STAND BY...TWR 118.25.' I WAS UNABLE TO READ BACK THESE INSTRUCTIONS FOR I HEARD THE SAME CTLR ON 118.25 DIRECTING TFC ON BOTH RWY 18 AND RWY 32R IN BTWN THE 'STANDBYS.' THERE APPEARED TO BE 3 OR 4 HVY BOEING AIRLINERS WORKING RWY 32R; 2 MIL C5 OR 117'S AND OTHER LIGHT TRAINING ACFT ON RWY 18. I WAS MONITORING BOTH GND AND TWR ON BOTH VHF RADIOS. I HOVER TAXIED N AWAY FROM THE CUSTOMS BOX AND TURNED L; STARTED MY TKOF TO THE SW. I CALLED 'ACFT X ON THE GO.' TWR: 'WHERE ARE YOU?' PLT: 'ON THE GO FROM THE SW RAMP CLBING THROUGH 300 FT SBOUND.' CTLR: 'TFC IS A BEECH CRAFT TOUCH-AND-GOES RWY 18.' PLT OF X: 'I HAVE THE TFC; THANKS.' DID I MISS SOMETHING? I SAW THE BEECHCRAFT TRAINER AT MY 5 O'CLOCK POS; SAME ALT; 400 FT AGL; APPROX 500 FT OR LESS HORIZ. HAD THE TWR CTLR NOT POINTED OUT THE TFC; I FEEL THAT THIS COULD HAVE RESULTED IN A MIDAIR COLLISION. I LEVELED AT 400 FT AGL; TURNED SLIGHTLY L TO AVOID TFC. I BELIEVE THAT THE BEECHCRAFT WAS TOTALLY UNAWARE OF MY POS. HE APPEARED TO CONTINUED HIS CLB. I CONTINUED AT APPROX 400 FT AGL FOR SEVERAL MI; ASKED THE CTLR THE POS OF THE BEECHCRAFT; BEING UNABLE TO SEE HIM BEHIND ME AFTER I TURNED L AND LEVELED OFF. I WAS TOLD HE WAS IN THE PATTERN OF RWY 18 FOR TOUCH-AND-GOES; CONTACT DEP ON 126.4. I WAS SOON TURNED OVER TO CHINOOK APCH ON 128.75. WOW; WHY A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH A BEECHCRAFT? PROBS: GND CTLR WAS WORKING BOTH GND CTL; GIVING CLRNCS; WORKING THE W TWR FREQ WITH 7 OR MORE ACFT. IT IS MY IMPRESSION THAT THE CTLR WAS NOT ABLE TO GIVE ME CLR DEP INSTRUCTIONS. I WAS NOT ABLE TO READ BACK THESE INSTRUCTIONS WHEN GIVEN. I DID ATTEMPT TO 'READ BACK' ON OUR THIRD OR FORTH GAR. AND THEN I FELT RUSHED BY THE COMMENT 'ARE YOU READY TO GO NOW?' ON THE GND FREQ. 1) WERE INSTRUCTIONS CLRLY GIVEN BY CTLR? PLT: NO. 2) WAS MY ACFT GIVEN PROPER AND EQUAL ATTN AS THE HVY BOEING JETS AND OTHER TRAINERS DOING TOUCH-AND-GOES ON RWY 32R AND RWY 18? PLT: NO. 3) DID PLT OF HELI FEEL PRESSURED FOR AN IMMEDIATE TKOF FROM CTLR: PLT: YES. BEING A DUAL RATED PLT IN BOTH AIRPLANES AND HELIS; I HAVE EXPERIENCED THAT MANY CTLRS (INCLUDING THE ONE MENTIONED ABOVE) MAY VIEW HELIS WITH DISCONTENT AND IN MANY INSTANCES WILL NOT ALLOW 'US;' HELI PLTS; THE SAME CONSIDERATION AS FIXED WING ACFT. I FELT THAT THIS ATTITUDE WAS PREVALENT ON THIS DATE AND LED ME TO A STATE OF FRUSTRATION AND DISTR. THIS WAS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO THIS POSSIBLE MIDAIR COLLISION. FACTORS: PLTS FEELING ON NOT RECEIVING EQUAL ATTN FROM CTLR. PLTS FRUSTRATION WITH CTLR LEADING TO IMPATIENCE AND DISTR FROM TKOF INSTRUCTIONS. POSSIBLE CTLR BEING OVERTASKED IN RUNNING BOTH GND CTL; ISSUING CLRNCS; AND TWR CTL WITH MANY ACFT REQUESTING ATTN AT THE SAME TIME. CTLR NOT INSISTING ON A 'READBACK' ON TKOF INSTRUCTIONS. AMBIGUOUS QUESTION 'ARE YOU READY NOW?' ON GND CTL. PLTS FEELING OF PRESSURE TO TAKE OFF NOW. PLT NOT STEPPING BACK; TAKING A BREATH; AND SAYING 'WAIT A MIN; I WILL NOT GO UNTIL I AM GOOD AND READY FOR TKOF.' NOT HAVING A SEPARATE GND/CLRNC DELIVERY CTLR (FREE FROM TWR CTL RESPONSIBILITIES) THAT CAN GIVE FULL CLRNC AND/OR GND CTL INSTRUCTIONS WITH PROPER READBACKS FROM PLTS. WHAT WORKED: PLT CALLED: 'CALL SIGN ON THE GO SBOUND.' CTLR: 'WHERE ARE YOU CALL SIGN?' PLT: 'ON THE GO SW RAMP CLBING THROUGH 300 FT.' CTLR: 'TFC IS A BEECHCRAFT TOUCH-AND-GOES RWY 18.' (HAD HE NOT MENTIONED THIS I HATE TO THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES.) ALTHOUGH I FAULT THE CTLR ON SOME ISSUES; HE WAS QUICK TO TAKE CHARGE AND POINT OUT TFC AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME. THE FARS ALLOW HELI PLTS MUCH LATITUDE IN APCHING AND DEPARTING ARPTS. THIS WORKS VERY WELL MOST OF THE TIME EXCEPT WHEN THERE ARE NOISE ABATEMENT ISSUES AND WHEN THE TFC PATTERN IS CONGESTED. THIS (CONGESTION) RAISES THE STAKES CONSIDERABLE. IT IS THEN UP TO THE HELI PLT TO ACCESS THE RISKS OF 'AVOID THE FLOW OF FIXED WING' AND MIX WHEN IT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF ALL INVOLVED. YES; THAT MAY MEAN CREATING MORE WORKLOAD FOR THE CTLR; BUT CONSIDER THE RISKS.

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