5 terrifying seconds

BravoHotel

BravoHotel

Well-Known Member
I may not be 100% correct in my actions today. I am writing this here in case I need to reference it in the future.


My jumpers exit at altitude, I am in my descent NW of the jump zone. In Jean, the parachute landing area is about 4 NM miles south of airport, just East of I-15.

I get off with ATC at about 8 thousand, switch to Jean's CTAF, I announce my position, a Helo answers up, I located him, we are both on extended Base legs for 2L and 2R. I am 2L the Helo 2R. The wind is about 10-15 knots out of the north favoring RWY 2. As I turn base to about a 3/4 mile final, something tells me come in low, so I come in low, I am watching the helo, he is ok. I turn my attention to RWY2R...I see an airplane, not just something out in the distance, I see a propeller, spinner, air intake, mains, it was a tail dragger, high wing, the strut, rivet line and oil streaks and a yellowish greenish color, this damn thing filled my entire wind screen. I was already low to being with, maybe 300-400 ft AGL at 15" MP, I fire walled the throttle and broke 90 degrees left.

This pilot took off down wind, not talking to anyone, I don't believe he saw me, because he was in a normal take off attitude when I saw him again. To add fuel to the fire he flew right through my skydivers...

I thank God that the 206's engine didn't stumble and gave me all power exactly when I needed it, to avoid this guy I had to go left and low, by the time I am tracking 90 degree left, there is another obstacle, the freaken power lines, I leveled the wings and climbed out.

I called the Helo back and asked if I had missed a radio call, he said no, he didn't see this guy until he was airborne either. He said "nice save." I can't remember what helo company it was, either Maverick 25 or Landmark 61...I landed, smoked a cigarette and flew 5 more loads after that.

The lesson I learned is study that freaken runway, I had glanced at it and didn't see him. I didn't get his N number, because by the second time i saw him he was a dot in a cruise climb towards the skydivers.

Should I file a NASA report? If I have to dig, I can find out who was flying that helo. I am thankful to be alive, and this New Castle never tasted so good.
 
Nice work. Just wasn't your day to go today. Wouldn't hurt to file an ASRS for the mere safety purpose of it. As far as to cover any wrongdoing, I think you're the only one that noticed the near-collision, apart from the helo pilot.
 
Nice job. The downwind departure is the sort of thing that makes me avoid uncontrolled fields whenever possible. There's always some cowboy doing his own thing.

Uncontrolled airport- bad
Airplane with no radio- bad

airplane with no radio at uncontrolled field- accident waiting to happen

Again, good job.
 
Chief Captain said:
Nice job. The downwind departure is the sort of thing that makes me avoid uncontrolled fields whenever possible. There's always some cowboy doing his own thing.

Uncontrolled airport- bad
Airplane with no radio- bad

airplane with no radio at uncontrolled field- accident waiting to happen

Again, good job.
Click to expand...

Uncontrolled fields are fine, not bad. Same with the airplane with no radio at same pending he's moving with the flow of traffic. As safe as it could potentially be? No. But not necessarily unsafe either, depending on the other pilot and his SA level.
 
Chief Captain said:
Nice job. The downwind departure is the sort of thing that makes me avoid uncontrolled fields whenever possible. There's always some cowboy doing his own thing.
Click to expand...

Isn't a "downwind departure" when you leave the pattern from the downwind leg?
 
Glad you saw him.

My own "oh crap" moment would probably have been a collision had I not been monitoring CTAF at a nearby airport or had the other guy not called 7 miles out.

That's scary.
 
I had two occurrences of people turning downwind and entering unintentional formation flight with me. I make all my calls and people still don't listen or don't fly a proper pattern. Heck, two days ago we had a random aircraft fly 500AGL above the airport with no calls on CTAF. Some people shouldn't be flying.
 
Can't have a career in aviation without the occasional oscar sierra moments. There will be more.

Glad you got out ok. I had a hella OS moment not to long ago. With nearly 10K hours, and 30 some odd years, it was the worst one yet. Good times.
 
Roger said:
Care to share?
Click to expand...

Really don't want to. I like being anonymous. :D

Lets just say I went to work in the morning, a normal everyday day, and was in the local headlines in the evening. Any one you walk away from is an excellent one.
 
It's to bad you don't know who the guy is so you could go "talk" to him. I had to have a "talk" with someone the other day. While departing SZP, an RV took the runway about 10-15 seconds after we started our takeoff roll. He made no radio calls after that. So I am looking out the back window for him and can't find him. About 30 seconds later, he passes us on the left (wrong) at the same altitude (wrong) withing about 150ft of us (also wrong). When we got back from our flight, my day was supposed to be over. But I waited around for about an hour for him to return. Lets just say we had some choice words, and I had to be restrained.

There is simply no excuse for ignorance.
 
Hawks said:
I may not be 100% correct in my actions today. I am writing this here in case I need to reference it in the future.


My jumpers exit at altitude, I am in my descent NW of the jump zone. In Jean, the parachute landing area is about 4 NM miles south of airport, just East of I-15.

I get off with ATC at about 8 thousand, switch to Jean's CTAF, I announce my position, a Helo answers up, I located him, we are both on extended Base legs for 2L and 2R. I am 2L the Helo 2R. The wind is about 10-15 knots out of the north favoring RWY 2. As I turn base to about a 3/4 mile final, something tells me come in low, so I come in low, I am watching the helo, he is ok. I turn my attention to RWY2R...I see an airplane, not just something out in the distance, I see a propeller, spinner, air intake, mains, it was a tail dragger, high wing, the strut, rivet line and oil streaks and a yellowish greenish color, this damn thing filled my entire wind screen. I was already low to being with, maybe 300-400 ft AGL at 15" MP, I fire walled the throttle and broke 90 degrees left.

This pilot took off down wind, not talking to anyone, I don't believe he saw me, because he was in a normal take off attitude when I saw him again. To add fuel to the fire he flew right through my skydivers...

I thank God that the 206's engine didn't stumble and gave me all power exactly when I needed it, to avoid this guy I had to go left and low, by the time I am tracking 90 degree left, there is another obstacle, the freaken power lines, I leveled the wings and climbed out.

I called the Helo back and asked if I had missed a radio call, he said no, he didn't see this guy until he was airborne either. He said "nice save." I can't remember what helo company it was, either Maverick 25 or Landmark 61...I landed, smoked a cigarette and flew 5 more loads after that.

The lesson I learned is study that freaken runway, I had glanced at it and didn't see him. I didn't get his N number, because by the second time i saw him he was a dot in a cruise climb towards the skydivers.

Should I file a NASA report? If I have to dig, I can find out who was flying that helo. I am thankful to be alive, and this New Castle never tasted so good.
Click to expand...

I may have heard some of that on the radio.
 
mshunter said:
...But I waited around for about an hour for him to return. Lets just say we had some choice words, and I had to be restrained.
Click to expand...

I can't say that I'd recommend that as the most professional way to resolve the issue.
 
Chief Captain said:
Nice job. The downwind departure is the sort of thing that makes me avoid uncontrolled fields whenever possible. There's always some cowboy doing his own thing.

Uncontrolled airport- bad
Airplane with no radio- bad

airplane with no radio at uncontrolled field- accident waiting to happen

Again, good job.
Click to expand...

I disagree with everything you said here except the "good job" which I will agree with you on.
 
Chief Captain said:
Nice job. The downwind departure is the sort of thing that makes me avoid uncontrolled fields whenever possible. There's always some cowboy doing his own thing.

Uncontrolled airport- bad
Airplane with no radio- bad

airplane with no radio at uncontrolled field- accident waiting to happen
Click to expand...

Well that might be the most ignorant post that I have ever read on here. :banghead:

To the OP - good job, everyone needs to be reminded to keep there eyes open out there.
 
This won't be your last P-Factor moment. Keep those eyes out the window and you will be fine. I would file a NASA report, not that you did anything wrong. The thing is that if the FAA wanted to they could call you reckless in scanning the air for other aircraft or some BS like that. I am not calling you that, but they could if they wanted to. A NASA report gives you peace of mind. I filed a NASA report when I flew a 172RG with a information manual instead of a POH, it is just a sheet of worthless paper until you need it.

I feel bad for the man that reads the NASA reports, I have sent him some dull ones.

Good job
 
Rudabega said:
...I would file a NASA report, not that you did anything wrong. The thing is that if the FAA wanted to they could call you reckless in scanning the air for other aircraft or some BS like that. I am not calling you that, but they could if they wanted to. A NASA report gives you peace of mind. I filed a NASA report when I flew a 172RG with a information manual instead of a POH, it is just a sheet of worthless paper until you need it.

I feel bad for the man that reads the NASA reports, I have sent him some dull ones.

Good job
Click to expand...

I agree with filing a NASA ASRS report, but not for the reasons that you give. The whole reason for the ASRS is to improve safety, and that should be the primary reason why a report should be filed in this case.

The ASRS collects, analyzes, and responds to voluntarily submitted aviation safety incident reports in order to lessen the likelihood of aviation accidents.

ASRS data are used to:

Identify deficiencies and discrepancies in the National Aviation System (NAS) so that these can be remedied by appropriate authorities.

Support policy formulation and planning for, and improvements to, the NAS.

Strengthen the foundation of aviation human factors safety research. This is particularly important since it is generally conceded that over two-thirds of all aviation accidents and incidents have their roots in human performance errors.
Click to expand...

In my opinion too much emphasis is placed on the "get out of jail free" card aspect of the program, and people only tend to think about filing a report when they've screwed up somehow. Instead we should be filing a report whenever we observe something that presents a potentially unsafe situation.

File early and file often!
 
Well that might be the most ignorant post that I have ever read on here. :banghead:
Click to expand...

Saying that cowboy pilots without radios at uncontrolled fields are accidents waiting to happen is ignorant? I've seen enough dumb poo-poo at uncontrolled airports to agree that some of the stuff that goes on, like OP's story, is downright dangerous. You can absolutely argue that uncontrolled fields present unique hazards due to intentional or unintentional disregard of situational awareness and general operating rules, as well as pilots who prefer not to deal with controlled airspace or environments for whatever reason. Unfortunately, the reason is often that they want to do it "their way".
 
JJ429PA said:
Saying that cowboy pilots without radios at uncontrolled fields are accidents waiting to happen is ignorant? I've seen enough dumb poo-poo at uncontrolled airports to agree that some of the stuff that goes on, like OP's story, is downright dangerous. You can absolutely argue that uncontrolled fields present unique hazards due to intentional or unintentional disregard of situational awareness and general operating rules, as well as pilots who prefer not to deal with controlled airspace or environments for whatever reason. Unfortunately, the reason is often that they want to do it "their way".
Click to expand...

Singular events that occur, like the OP speaks of, doesn't make the entire concept of uncontrolled fields "unsafe". Thats the only point being made. And I agree with your third sentence that uncontrolled fields can present unique hazards and everyone needs to be vigilant, on top of their game, and flying same way/same day, generally speaking. But they're still overall safe operations. A few yahoos doing things "their way" are just that, the dumb yahoos.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top