PILOT REPORTS BEING PASSED CLOSE ABOARD BY TWO MILITARY JETS WHILE ON A PLEASURE FLIGHT OVER DENVER AT 1500 FEET.

Date: 2007-05 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: airspace-violation-all-types|conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far

Synopsis

PILOT REPORTS BEING PASSED CLOSE ABOARD BY TWO MILITARY JETS WHILE ON A PLEASURE FLIGHT OVER DENVER AT 1500 FEET.

Narrative

I WAS FLYING NBOUND; WITH STROBE ACL; AND RUNNING LIGHTS ON; OVER THE FORT LOGAN NATL CEMETERY. I STARTED A L TURN AND NOTICED 2 FIGHTER JETS; PERHAPS 5 MI AWAY TO THE NW; HEADING S AND BEGINNING A TURN TO THE E. I SWITCHED ON MY LNDG LIGHT AND THEY PROCEEDED TO THE E ABOUT 3 MI AWAY FROM OUR POS UNTIL THEY COULD NO LONGER BE SPOTTED; NEITHER JET HAD STROBES OR RUNNING LIGHTS ON. I CONTINUED OUR TURN S AND THEN E WHILE DSNDING TO 1100 FT AGL. OUR AIRSPD WAS ABOUT 60 KTS. BOTH JETS RETURNED; HEADING W AT OUR ALT VERY FAST AND SIDE BY SIDE. THE JET CLOSEST TO US WAS ABOUT 150 FT ABEAM OUR POS. I MAINTAINED ALT AND TURNED TO THE N TO CLR THE AREA; THEN A R TURN TO THE S TO START OUR RETURN TRIP. I HAD CHKED WX AND FLT PLANNER BEFORE THE FLT AND THE ONLY TFR OR NOTAM RPTED FOR THIS AREA WAS AT APA ABOUT 70 NM S OF THIS ENCOUNTER. I LEFT APA AROUND XA15; ADVISING TWR AS TO VFR TO BJC AREA AND THEN RETURN S. THERE WAS NO MENTION OF ANY NEW NOTAMS TO US; OR TO ANY OTHER TFC DURING THE TIME WE MONITORED APA TWR AND I ELECTED TO REMAIN ON APA TWR THROUGHOUT OUR TIME IN THE AREA. (I HAD REQUESTED A FREQ CHANGE DUE TO ALL THE CHATTER; BUT WAS ADVISED TO REMAIN WITH TWR WHILE IN THE AREA.) I'M NOT SURE IF I DID ANYTHING WRONG; IF I WAS JUST AT THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME; OR IF I MISSED A NOTAM FOR THAT TIME/AREA. I'M NOT 100% SURE THE JETS EVEN SAW ME; ALTHOUGH MY LNDG LIGHTS ARE PRETTY BRIGHT; THERE WAS NO INDICATION FROM EITHER JET THAT THEY ARE TRYING TO SIGNAL ME. VERY EXCITING STUFF!

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