This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
Was flying with a friend around the area. We departed and executed a 45 departure.
After reaching three miles northwest of the airport (directly over coast) I turned southbound. I made a call on CTAF that Aircraft X was three miles northwest at 1,000 feet following the shore southbound.
About 20 seconds after making that call I was looking out the left window and noticed an aircraft whiz from underneath and behind me and begin a turn inland. It is hard to judge the distance, but he was way too close for comfort.
Correcting an incident like this will only happen in three ways:
- Pilots use more time looking outside (I am sure he would’ve seen how close he was to me if he was paying attention).
- Radio usage, especially in busy Class E surface like that of Astoria.
- Require the use of ADS-B in all controlled airspace. I had my ADS-B on. This aircraft was not on ADS-B and was not making calls.
Further, he proceeded to perform touch and goes at Astoria without making a single call.
Primary Problem: Human Factors.
ACN: 1795120
Although the other aircraft did not have ADS-B out….depending on radar coverage in your area (and there are still holes no matter what the FAA says), and assuming the other aircraft had a transponder, and turned on, you should have seen a target responding with ADS-R, or ADS-rebroadcast. This is a signal sent to your ADS-B in from the ground sites based on a secondary radar return. You would not see a tail number, but you would see a target and altitude. If the aircraft did not have secondary return to the ADS-R station (no transponder), or there isn’t a re-broadcast site in your neck of the world, see and avoid is about all you can do – and in the 21st century there is no reason not to have ADS-B out or two-way com and proper announcements. Finally – pilot was was either on the wrong frequency…or just a jerk.
Just some random thoughts without reading the actual report:
Maybe leveling off at/near (including below) pattern altitude 3 miles from a busy airport is not the best idea? (KAST PA: 1100’?)
“Pilots use more time looking outside (I am sure he would’ve seen how close he was to me if he was paying attention).” Where were you looking all this time?
Relying on radios where radios aren’t required is fraught with peril.
yup.! low altitude, close to a class E airport can be a hazardous place.
Sorry Jim,
I should’ve read yours first; you’d already hit the main points!
Tom C.
Tom,
ok, My post was delayed and appeared after yours.
More pilots need to understand that the most dangerous place to be flying is within 10 miles for an airport, especially a low altitude, maybe less than 3,000 ft.
It’s class E airspace, and flying at 1,000 ft and 3 miles from the airport could interfere with aircraft approaching to land, so it’s a more hazardous place to be flying.
ABSB-out is not required in uncontrolled airspace and there are a lot of no-electrics aircraft that do not have a transponder, so they won’t show up on a gps display..
Also, the use of a radio is not required in class E and G.
Kind of like the person who found out that most car accidents occur within 20 miles of home….so he moved. !
I was flying in under Brovo airspace the other day. Using the iPad, changing frequency’s, looking out side, looking for traffic that the iPad was reporting and basically multitasking. Now I will admit that I am not a high density pilot.
I believe that the “New “ cockpit panel is distracting and pilots spend too much time with their eyes on the panel then out side the plane. And then add the possibility of the cell phone Bluetooth to the head set. I know shut it off,
I assume that since the pilot said that he called CTAF that he was not in “B” or “D” airspace. Pilots don’t normally announce their location on the radio unless needed.
So keep your eyes outside and less inside the plane.
As the expression goes: There are old pilots and stupid pilots, but no old+stupid pilots. One of these days that jerk’s behavior will come to a bad end.
It was implied the the reporter was on the correct frequency, it is possible that he was not on the correct frequency.
Equally possible that the “other guy” was on the wrong frequency-if he was making calls at all.
I reckon a pilot who bothered to make a report like this would have ascertained he was on the right freq before going public with the incident.
This is a good reminder that some pilots are hazards to themselves and to other people. Thanks to the ASRS pilot who filed the report.