A C206 PLT CLRED FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 16 AT AVL TOOK EVASIVE ACTION TO AVOID A BEECH BONANZA THAT WAS ALSO TURNED IN FOR AN APCH.

Date: 2003-10 · Aircraft: Cessna Stationair/Turbo Stationair 6 · Phase: approach

Anomalies: conflict-nmac|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

A C206 PLT CLRED FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 16 AT AVL TOOK EVASIVE ACTION TO AVOID A BEECH BONANZA THAT WAS ALSO TURNED IN FOR AN APCH.

Narrative

I WAS RETURNING FROM A BUSINESS MEETING TO MY HOME ARPT; IFR IN CLR; BUT OCCASIONALLY CLOUDY VMC. I ENTERED THE TFC PATTERN ON THE DOWNWIND FOR RWY 16 WHILE STILL UNDER RADAR CTL BUT WITH THE ARPT CLRLY VISIBLE AND WAS CLRED #1 FOR A VISUAL TO RWY 16. I EXTENDED MY DOWNWIND SLIGHTLY AS I SLOWED DOWN THE PLANE (T206H) AND AS I TURNED ON BASE; APCH CALLED ME AND TOLD TO MAKE MY TURN AND GO TO THE NUMBERS; THAT I WAS #1 TO LAND ON RWY 16. I WAS THEN ASKED IF I HAD ANOTHER PLANE (I BELIEVE IT WAS A BEECH BONANZA) THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN TO MY N AND WOULD BE #2 BEHIND ME. I ADVISED I DID NOT HAVE A VISUAL ON HIM BUT I DID HAVE HIM ON MY TFC AVOIDANCE SYS AND CONTINUED MY TURN FROM BASE TO FINAL. AS I COMPLETED MY TURN TO FINAL; I HEARD APCH TELL THE BONANZA IT WAS #1 TO LAND. SIMULTANEOUSLY MY TAS BEGAN TO WAIL LIKE A BANSHEE 'TFC; TFC; TFC.' I LOOKED AT IT AND THE LITTLE WHITE DOT REPRESENTING THE PLANE BEHIND ME WAS ABOUT 300 FT ABOVE ME AND BEHIND ME; BUT SO CLOSE I COULD NOT SEE ANY SPACING ON ITS IMAGE ON THE TAS. I THEN BEGAN A SHALLOW DSCNT AND A 360 DEG TURN TO THE E WITHOUT NOTIFYING APCH (I ASSUMED THE CTLR KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON AND I REALLY BELIEVED I HAD NO TIME TO TALK; ONLY TIME TO FLY THE PLANE; THIS HAPPENED SO QUICKLY). THE CTLR CAME ON THE LINE AND; WITHOUT ASKING ME ANY QUESTIONS; ASKED ME IF I WAS TURNING OUT OF THE APCH PATH. I SAID YES; AND THEN WAS BERATED OVER MAKING THE TURN WITHOUT CALLING HIM FIRST AND THE PROBS THAT COULD CAUSE BY DOING IT WITHOUT NOTIFICATION. I WAS SURPRISED AND TAKEN ABACK BY WHAT HE SAID TO ME AND SAID NOTHING IN RESPONSE BUT CONTINUED THE 360 DEG TURN; WAS THEN CLRED TO LAND AND LANDED. UPON LNDG AND WHILE STILL ON THE RWY THE APCH CTLR CALLED ME UP AND APOLOGIZED SAYING THAT HE DID NOT KNOW THAT RADAR HAD APPROVED ANOTHER PLANE TO LAND NUMBER ONE WHILE I WAS ON THE APCH; AND THAT HE HAD 'PUT ME BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE.' I THANKED HIM. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: I SHOULD HAVE HAD MY PLANE FULLY SLOWED TO APCH OR NEARLY APCH SPEED WHEN I ENTERED THE DOWNWIND FOR LNDG. I SHOULD NOT HAVE EXTENDED MY DOWNWIND WITHOUT NOTIFYING APCH FIRST. I COULD HAVE TRIED HARDER TO GET A VISUAL ON THE BONANZA; OR WHATEVER THE SECOND PLANE WAS; BUT THERE WERE SOME CLOUDS IN THE AREA AND JUST ASSUMED WHEN I COULD NOT FIND HIM; HE WAS PROBABLY OBSCURED BY THE CLOUDS. MY TAS SHOWED HIM NOT TO BE A PROB. I SHOULD HAVE MONITORED THE TAS A LITTLE MORE CLOSELY ON APCH. BECAUSE THE OTHER PLANE WAS CLOSE ENOUGH TO SET OFF ITS WARNING; I WAS TAKEN BY SURPRISE WHEN IT ALERTED ME AND DID NOT BELIEVE I HAD TIME TO CALL APCH TO ADVISE THEM OF THE CONFLICT I HAD ENCOUNTERED OR TO TELL THEM TWO PLANES HAVE BEEN APPROVED NUMBER ONE TO LAND ON THE SAME RWY AT THE SAME TIME. I RESPONDED FIRST PLANNING TO CALL AFTER I GOT OUT OF THE FLT PATH.

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