2002-03 · NASA ASRS report 541584
M20P PLT AND A LIGHT TWIN HAD AN NMAC IN P50 CLASS E AIRSPACE.
I WAS IN THE PRACTICE AREA N OF FOUNTAIN HILLS; WHICH IS NE OF PHOENIX; AZ. I WAS STAYING ABOVE 4000 FT MSL BECAUSE OF THE FORT MCDOWELL BALD EAGLE BREEDING AREA AND BELOW 6000 FT MSL DUE TO THE OVERLYING PHX CLASS B AIRSPACE. AFTER REVERSING COURSE FROM W TO E WHILE MAKING A CLRING TURN TO LOOK FOR TFC; I MADE A PRACTICE DEP STALL. AT THE COMPLETION OF THE STALL RECOVERY I WAS ABOUT 4500 FT MSL; AND I BEGAN A SERIES OF 2 STEEP TURNS - 1 TO THE L FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY BY 1 TO THE R. WHEN I HAD COMPLETED ABOUT 3/4 OF THE TURN TO THE R; ON A HDG OF APPROX N; AND AT AN ALT OF ABOUT 4800-4900 FT MSL; A TWIN PASSED VERY CLOSE IN FRONT OF ME FROM E TO W AND SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN I WAS. I SUSPECT THAT THE PLT OF THE OTHER PLANE DID NOT SEE ME; BASED ON THE FACT THAT THE OTHER PLANE APPEARED TO BE FLYING STRAIGHT AND LEVEL RATHER BANKED AWAY FROM ME OR NOSE HIGH TO CLB OVER ME. I TOOK NO EVASIVE ACTION; PARTLY BECAUSE NONE WAS NEEDED; PARTLY BECAUSE I WAS ALREADY IN A STEEP TURN; AND PARTLY BECAUSE THERE WAS NOT TIME TO REACT. DESCRIPTION OF THE OTHER PLANE. DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF THE CLOSE PROX OF THE 2 PLANES; MY RAPID TURN RATE FROM W TO E; AND THE OTHER PLANE'S RAPID SPD FROM E TO W; THE TIME FROM WHEN THE OTHER PLANE FIRST APPEARED IN MY WINDSHIELD (AT THE TOP R; DUE TO MY BANK ANGLE) UNTIL IT DISAPPEARED (AT THE BOTTOM L OF MY WINDSHIELD) WAS VERY SHORT. FOR THIS REASON; COUPLED WITH MY BEING SURPRISED BY ITS APPEARING; I DID NOT NOTICE EXACTLY WHAT TYPE OF TWIN IT WAS. IT WAS EITHER A MID WING (LIKE AN AEROSTAR) OR A LOW WING. IN EITHER CASE; IT WAS RATHER SLEEK. TIGHT AIRSPACE: THE USABLE HT FROM THE FLOOR TO THE CEILING IN THE AREA OF THE INCIDENT IS 2000 FT. THIS IS A COMMON PRACTICE AREA AND ALSO A TRANSITION REGION BTWN THE PHOENIX AREA AND THE NE AREA AROUND PHOENIX. I DID NOT CONDUCT A CLRING TURN BTWN THE COMPLETION OF THE DEP STALL AND THE START OF THE STEEP TURNS. I WAS NOT MONITORING THE AIR-TO-AIR FREQ TO HEAR ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS OF OTHER ACFT IN THE AREA. BUT I SUSPECT THAT THE OTHER PLANE WAS LISTENING TO ATIS OR TALKING WITH AND/OR LISTENING TO ITS DEST TWR RATHER THAN LISTENING AND/OR ANNOUNCING ON THE AIR-TO-AIR FREQ. CORRECTIVE ACTION: MOVE FURTHER E FOR CONDUCTING PRACTICE MANEUVERS. THIS WILL NOT PROVIDE A LOWER FLOOR OF THE PRACTICE AREA; AS THE NESTING AREA WILL BE REPLACED WITH HIGHER TERRAIN. IT WILL; HOWEVER; PROVIDE; A HIGHER CEILING; AS THE FLOOR OF THE OVERLYING CLASS B AIRSPACE WILL BE HIGHER; AND TFC TRANSITION TO/FROM THE PHOENIX AREA WILL TEND TO BE HIGHER. I PLAN ON PROCURING A TFC PROX ADVISORY SYS TO ALERT ME WHEN OTHER ACFT ARE CLOSE BY. I WILL CONDUCT A CLRING TURN IMMEDIATELY BEFORE EACH PRACTICE MANEUVER. I WILL MONITOR AND ANNOUNCE MY INTENTIONS ON THE AIR-TO-AIR FREQ WHEN IN THE PRACTICE AREA.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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