EXPERIMENTAL ACFT PLT HAS DIFFICULTIES WITH GEU TWR CTLR AND EXCEEDS THE PATTERN ALT AT GEU.

Date: 2006-07 · Aircraft: Amateur/Home Built/Experimental

Anomalies: conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-altitude-overshoot

Synopsis

EXPERIMENTAL ACFT PLT HAS DIFFICULTIES WITH GEU TWR CTLR AND EXCEEDS THE PATTERN ALT AT GEU.

Narrative

I ARRANGED FOR A GOOD FRIEND TO ACCOMPANY ME ON MY FIRST FLT (OF MANY MONTHS) TO KEEP AN EYE ON MY SKILLS AND PROBABLE 'RUST.' I WAS DEFINITELY RUSTY; BUT NOT IN ANY DANGER TO MYSELF; OR ANYONE ELSE. MY ACFT IS A HIGH PERFORMANCE ACFT WITH A VERY HIGH CLB RATE; AND SPD. IT WAS DUE TO THESE FACTS; AND TO MY EXPECTED RUSTINESS; I REQUESTED A 'HIGH SPD' PATTERN ALT OF 500 FT ABOVE THE PUBLISHED NORMAL ALT OF 2100 FT MSL. MY REQUEST WAS VERY POORLY RECEIVED BY THE CTLR; WHO INFORMED ME THAT THE HIGH SPD PATTERN WAS FOR JETS ONLY; REQUEST DENIED; 'YOU WILL SLOW DOWN TO KEEP PACE WITH THE CESSNA 172 IN THE PATTERN.' I GUESS THE CTLR WAS HAVING A BAD DAY; BECAUSE HE CONTINUED TO GIVE US A HARD TIME DURING OUR 35-40 MIN IN THE PATTERN. ALTHOUGH THERE WERE ONLY 4 OR 5 PLANES IN THE PATTERN AT ANY ONE TIME; HE CAUSED US TO MAKE TWO GO-AROUNDS IN FIVE CYCLES. ON OUR 4TH APCH TO LAND; WE WERE ON SHORT FINAL; WHEN THE CTLR RELEASED A BEECHCRAFT BONANZA DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF MY ACFT; AND IMMEDIATELY ORDERED US TO GO AROUND. I CONSIDER THIS A NEAR MISS. THE GO AROUND ORDER WASN'T REALLY NECESSARY; BECAUSE WE WERE SO CLOSE TO LNDG; WE WOULD HAVE AUTOMATICALLY PERFORMED A GO AROUND TO AVOID A COLLISION. THIS NEAR MISS FURTHER AGGRAVATED THE SITUATION; AND UPON TKOF; I INADVERTENTLY EXCEEDED THE PATTERN ALT OF 2100 FT MSL. ON ROLLOUT AFTER LNDG; THE CTLR ASKED ME TO CONTACT THE TWR; SAYING I MIGHT BE CITED FOR A 'PLT DEV.'

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