A FORESTRY FIRE PATROL PLT HAD AN NMAC WITH A C172 WHILE LOOKING DOWN FOR A FIRE.

Narrative

ON JUL/XA/00 AT XA30; WHILE FLYING FORESTRY FIRE PATROL FOR THE STATE OF MS; AN NMAC OCCURRED WITH ANOTHER C172 NEAR OSX (KOSCIUSKO; MS). I WAS ON A HDG OF 270 DEGS TOWARD A FIRE I HAD SPOTTED. I NOTICED TO MY R AND ABOVE 2 MIL T45'S HDG S ON IR-44. AS THEY TURNED AT KOSCIUSKO TO CONTINUE ON IR-44 I MADE A 90 DEG L TURN TO SEE WHERE THEY WERE GOING. AFTER I DETERMINED THEY WERE TRAVELING AWAY FROM MY POS; I MADE A R 90 DEG TURN BACK TOWARD W AND THE FIRE. I OBSERVED AT THIS TIME A C172 MAKING A CLBING R TURN AWAY FROM ME. MY ALT AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT WAS 2500 FT MSL; WHICH IS THE ALT I HAD BEEN FLYING FOR THE FIRE PATROL. I HAD BEEN MONITORING THE CTAF AT OSX; BUT I CAN'T BE SURE THAT THE SELECTOR SWITCH ON THE AVIONICS CTL PANEL WAS ON; AS I HAD BEEN TALKING TO THE FORESTRY DISPATCHERS ON A SEPARATE VHF-FM RADIO. TO CORRECT THIS; I SHOULD HAVE VERIFIED THE SELECTOR SWITCH WAS ON; AND I SHOULD HAVE MADE CALLS ON CTAF TO ANNOUNCE MY LOCATION. I SHOULD SPEND MORE TIME ON A SCAN FOR OTHER ACFT AND NOT SPEND ALL MY TIME LOOKING DOWN. THE MS FORESTRY COMMISSION PLANES ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING REPAINTED IN A HIGH VISIBILITY PAINT SCHEME; SIMILAR TO THE CAP ACFT. THIS SHOULD HELP WITH ACFT AVOIDANCE. WE HAVE WINGTIP STROBES ON ALL OUR ACFT; BUT LARGER OR MORE STROBES MAY BE NECESSARY.