COLUMBIA 350 PILOT REPORTS CONFLICT WITH BE58 ARRIVING HKS AND DIFFICULTIES COMMUNICATING DUE TO ONE PERSON TOWER OPERATION.
Synopsis
COLUMBIA 350 PILOT REPORTS CONFLICT WITH BE58 ARRIVING HKS AND DIFFICULTIES COMMUNICATING DUE TO ONE PERSON TOWER OPERATION.
Narrative
INBOUND TO ARPT RECEIVING CLASS C RADAR FLT FOLLOWING. WE WERE SWITCHED TO TWR 10 MI FROM THE ARPT. ON CHANGING FREQS; TWR CTLR WAS XMITTING IFR CLRNC AND TAXI INSTRUCTIONS TO ACFT ON GND. WE WERE UNABLE TO ESTABLISH CONTACT PRIOR TO REACHING THE LATERAL BOUNDARIES OF THE CLASS D AIRSPACE AND HAD TO MAKE A QUICK 360 DEG TURN TO AVOID PENETRATING THE CLASS D. WHILE IN THE TURN; CONTACT WAS ESTABLISHED AND TWR INSTRUCTED US TO ENTER A L DOWNWIND TO RWY 16 AND REPORT MID FIELD. TWR AGAIN BECAME BUSY WITH 'ON THE GND' ACFT AND AN H60 LNDG ON A RAMP AREA. WE WERE PAST THE MID-FIELD POINT WHEN WE WERE ABLE TO CALL. AT THIS POINT AN IFR BEECH BARON CARGO HAULER ALSO RPTED INBOUND FROM THE NE. THE CTLR ASKED THE BARON TO RPT A L BASE. HE HAD NOT ACKNOWLEDGED OUR POS YET. AT THIS POINT WE WERE 1 - 1 1/2 MI NE OF THE ARPT WHEN I OBSERVED THE BARON AT OUR 1 O'CLOCK POS AND LESS THAN 1/2 MI; MOVING R TO L ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH US (ACFT POS WAS NOT MOVING IN OUR WINDSHIELD). I IMMEDIATELY TOOK EVASIVE ACTION TO PASS BEHIND THE BARON. AT THIS POINT THE CTLR SPOTTED BOTH ACFT AND ASKED IF WE COULD FOLLOW THE BARON. WE MANEUVERED TO FOLLOW AND LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER PROBS. WE DID NOT FILE AN NMAC RPT BUT SHOULD HAVE. THIS TIME PERIOD IS NORMALLY A BUSY TIME AT THIS ARPT DUE TO INBOUND/OUTBOUND CARGO ACFT. THIS PLT BELIEVES THE ABOVE SITUATIONS WOULD NOT HAVE OCCURRED IF THE LCL CTLR HAD NOT BEEN DISTR BY GND/RAMP ACTIVITIES. IT APPEARED HE WAS WORKING ALONE IN THE TWR. CONTRIBUTING TO THE INCIDENT WAS THE FACT THAT THE APCH CTL FORGOT TO SWITCH THE BARON TO TWR. THE BARON PLT ADVISED THAT SHE HAD TO ASK FOR THE FREQ CHANGE. THE APCH CTL AT THE TIME ALSO APPEARED TO BE OVERWHELMED WITH THE VOLUME OF TFC AND IT APPEARED 1 CTLR WAS WORKING BOTH SECTORS WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DE-COMBINED. SOONER THAN LATER THERE WILL BE FATALITIES DUE TO THE FAA'S ATTEMPT TO SAVE DOLLARS BY NOT STAFFING FACILITIES PROPERLY.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.