PENETRATION OF TCA. NMAC.
Synopsis
PENETRATION OF TCA. NMAC.
Narrative
I DEPARTED ISLIP; NY ON A VFR FLT TO TETERBORO ARPT; NJ. I PICKED UP ONE PAX AND MADE A FLT TO WILKES BARRE; PA ARPT; UNDER AN IFR FLT PLAN. VIS WAS MARGINAL WITH UNLIMITED CEILING. BEFORE THE RETURN TRIP TO TETERBORO; I FILED A VFR FLT PLAN BY PHONE; THEN ACTIVATED WITH FLT SVC AFTER TKOF. STILL UNDER WILKES BARRE DEP; I HAD ASKED FOR 5500' MSL TO AVOID GND LEVEL WHICH SHOWED MINIMUM CLRNC OF 3100' MSL. ON AN EASTERLY DIRECTION OF ABOUT 120 DEG MAGNETIC AFTER RPTING LEVEL OF 5500' MSL LCL CTL RELEASED ME AND I SQUAWKED 1200 ON MY XPONDER WITH ALT RPTING; MODE C. I ASKED FOR NEXT CTL FREQ AND WAS TOLD TO TRY IN ABOUT 10 MI; DUE TO LAPSE IN RADAR COVERAGE. TRACKING TO THE SPARTA VOR; I CALLED NY CENTER AND ASKED FOR ADVISORIES ABOUT 35 MI FROM SPARTA. THEY ISSUED ME A SQUAWK # AND TO IDENT. THEY SAID MAINTAIN 5500' AND RPT ALT CHANGES. THE TAILWIND WAS STRONG; SO CHKPOINTS CAME VERY QUICKLY. UPON REACHING SPARTA VOR; I TUNED TO TETERBORO VOR AND LISTENED TO THE TETERBORO ATIS. AT THIS TIME; I CALLED THE CTLR TO LET DOWN. WHEN CTLR RESPONDED THEY SEEMED SURPRISED AND TOLD ME TO CHANGE FREQ. WHEN I CALLED IN; THEY ISSUED ME A NEW SQUAWK AND TOLD ME TO DSND QUICKLY; WHICH I DID. AFTER VECTORS; I APCHED AND LANDED AT TETERBORO; NJ; AND CLOSED MY FLT PLAN. THE TWR AT TETERBORO ASKED ME TO CALL AN 800 PHONE #. THE FAA REP TOLD ME OF A CONFLICT OF TCA AIRSPACE. ALSO; A NEAR MISS WAS BEING DECLARED BY AN AIRLINER. I AT NO TIME SAW ANY ACFT NEAR MINE; NOR WAS ANY ACFT CALLED OUT TO ME BY NY CENTER. THE TAILWINDS HAD CAUSED MY GND TRACK TO BE MUCH GREATER THAN I EXPECTED. THIS MAY HAVE USED UP THE TIME I WOULD USUALLY HAVE HAD TO CHANGE FROM CRUISE FLT TO APCH. I TAKE FLT SAFETY VERY SERIOUSLY AND TRY TO FOLLOW ALL FAR'S AND AIRSPACE CTLS TO THE LETTER. HOWEVER; THE NY AREA IS VERY BUSY WITH AIR TFC AND AIRSPACE CTLS. PLTS AND CTLRS MUST WORK TOGETHER AND BE WATCHFUL. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING. WIND FACTORS CONTRIBUTED TO PROB AS RPTR DID NOT IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZE THAT GND SPD WAS 30 KTS FASTER THAN USUAL. HE WAS APCHING TCA BOUNDARY MUCH FASTER THAN ANTICIPATED. WHEN DELAYED ON CONTACT WITH ATC; HE CONTINUED FLT INTO TCA. NEVER SAW ANOTHER ACFT. DID NOT RECEIVE TFC FROM ATC. WHEN FINALLY ABLE TO GET THROUGH ON FREQ; HE WAS IMMEDIATELY CLRED TO 2000'.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.