A PA28-151 IN CLOSED TFC AT A TWRED ARPT HAD AN NMAC WITH AN ACFT ENTERING THE PATTERN.

Date: 2004-11 · Aircraft: PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: conflict-nmac

Synopsis

A PA28-151 IN CLOSED TFC AT A TWRED ARPT HAD AN NMAC WITH AN ACFT ENTERING THE PATTERN.

Narrative

I WAS PRACTICING TOUCH-AND-GOES ON RWY 18L AT NAPA; L TFC. ON MY UPWIND LEG; THE TWR ADVISED TFC APCHING FROM THE SW. I REMAINED ALERT AND CONTINUED ONTO MY XWIND AND DOWNWIND. AS I ENTERED MY DOWNWIND THE TWR ASKED THE MOONEY HIS POS. HE ADVISED HE WAS DOWNWIND. I BEGAN TO SCAN RAPIDLY. AS THE TWR ADVISED ME THE MOONEY WAS ON A WIDE DOWNWIND; I CAUGHT SITE OF HIM AT MY 4 O'CLOCK POS. HE APPEARED TO BE ON A 45 ROLLING RIGHT ONTO HIS DOWNWIND. BECAUSE WE WERE CONVERGING RAPIDLY I MANEUVERED INTO A STEEP BANKED L DSNDING TURN. I ADVISED THE TWR I WAS SPINNING. THE MOONEY ADVISED HE NEVER SAW ME. I FEEL THE PROB AROSE FOR SEVERAL REASONS: FIRST; ONCE I TURNED DOWNWIND; I BEGAN A PRE LNDG CHK; WHICH REDUCED MY ABILITY TO SCAN EFFECTIVELY. SECONDLY; I WAS EXPECTING THE MOONEY FROM ANOTHER DIRECTION. FINALLY; ON BOTH XWIND AND DOWNWIND; I COULD NOT SEE WELL TO THE SW; SO I FAILED TO SCAN WELL FOR TFC. ADDITIONALLY; THE TWR WAS BUSY WITH OTHER TFC AND MAY NOT HAVE HAD TIME TO ADEQUATELY SEPARATE THE MOONEY AND MYSELF. OTHER CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE THE MOONEY FAILING TO SEE ME; AND MY LACK OF RECENT FLYING AND GENERALLY LOW FLYING TIME. THIS EVENT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED WITH A RADAR SYS THAT ADVISED THE CTLR OF THE PROX OF THE MOONEY AND MYSELF. A DIFFERENT APCH FOR THE MOONEY WHICH COULD HAVE ALLOWED BETTER SEPARATION MIGHT HAVE ALSO HELPED. BETTER VISUAL SCAN BY MYSELF AND THE MOONEY WERE THE PRIMARY CONTRIBUTING FACTORS; HOWEVER; AND PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT ON WHICH IMPROVEMENT NEEDED TO BE MADE TO PREVENT A FUTURE EVENT.

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