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.
I was returning to ZZZ from a flight to ZZZ1 to drop off a friend because they were buying an airplane there. Upon returning to my home airport of ZZZ, I entered a left downwind on a 45° angle for Runway XX. When I entered the downwind, I was approximately 1 mile southeast of the airport. I straightened out my RV-9 parallel to Runway XX-XY heading 340° at around 2,200 feet with approximately 1 mile of spacing between my plane and the runway.
Within what felt like a split second, I caught a glimpse of a Cessna 177 approaching me from the front-right at approximately 2,100 feet. I took evasive actions by turning sharp to the right and climbing, but by the time I saw them, it would have been too late. Thankfully I was at the proper pattern altitude of 2,200 feet.
When I talked to them on the radio, they said that they did not know I was there until my plane cast a shadow over the cockpit. We were close enough that I could see the paint scheme, type of airplane, and tail number.
Again, had I not been above them I believe we would have collided.
When I was approaching the airport, I announced my position and intentions at 15 miles out, 10 miles out, 5 miles out, and 2 miles out. I also announced when I entered the downwind.
They did not announce anything on the radio. Supposedly they just got off the radio with ZZZ Approach who should have warned them of traffic in the area. Either they did not do that, or they did not listen to their warning.
Their ADS-B track showed them fly straight through the pattern at ZZZ and continue on. They were not joining the pattern nor had any intention of landing at ZZZ.
I was able to gather myself and land safely without further incident.
There are takeaways that I got from this.
First, I want to check and make sure that my ADS-B Out is working correctly. I’ve already submitted for an ADS-B Out check from the FAA and will likely fly tonight or tomorrow and call the ZZZ Approach to verify that my ADS-B Out is working. If not, I will attempt to fix it immediately.
Second, I am going to connect my headset to my iPad via Bluetooth so that it will give me audible warnings when I am approaching other traffic. Had my iPad been connected to my Bluetooth headset, I would’ve heard it call out the approaching traffic. I don’t like staring at my iPad while flying and at the time I was experiencing moderate turbulence that made it near impossible to see the iPad anyway. An audible warning could have helped prevent this near miss.
Thankfully nothing bad happened and the pilot of the other aircraft was apologetic on the radio about the situation.
I am alive and there are many lessons to be learned from this incident.
Primary Problem: Human Factors
ACN: 2008742
What I can’t understand is why there are pilots that will fly through the pattern of an airport rather than climbing to be at least 3000′ AGL. I get it if you have some problem where your altimeter is not reading correctly, but still, one should be *watching* for traffic using their Mark I eyeballs.
Gliders may not have a transponder. Parachutists may be landing at this airport. Older aircraft without electrical systems may be in the pattern — NO ADSB signals or transponder. Electrical system failure and an airplane goes radio silent, no transponder, no ADSB signals, stobes and landing light(s) are off.
I am glad this guy didn’t get close enough to swap paint or leave a wheel mark on the other plane.
Glad that a midair collision did not occur. However I believe that the Pilot of the aircraft which incorrectly entered an established Airport pattern and subsequently flew through should not be let off so LIGHTLY. That should be right up there near rule NUMBER ONE !!! DO NOT Fly through across or around an established airport at or near pattern altitude when just “passing through”. It takes a few minutes at most to stay clear of the airport and go around or substantially above. I have personally had 2 separate instances where I had Aircraft in the pattern at pattern altitude flying directly toward me in the opposite direction of published entry to downwind and both went on there Merry Way after Near Miss Head on Midair Accidents with no intentions of ever landing there. I cannot Emphasize how Reckless and Irresponsible these pilots are that do these things. They are a Danger to themselves and others.
I’m not on the downwind leg if I’m a mile away from the airport. In my low-wing single, I turn base when the end of the runway appears behind the trailing edge.
It angers me when pilots enter a pattern in an uncontrolled airport, without announcing their presence, location, and intentions.
Still, how can a plane fly through a pattern, at pattern altitude, with no intention of landing?
Did I miss something or is general aviation getting scarier every day?
“I’m not on the downwind leg if I’m a mile away from the airport.”
You might not consider yourself on downwind when you’re a mile away from the airport…but it sure might look like you are to the rest of us. From the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook, Chapter 8:
“The downwind leg is a course flown parallel to the landing runway, but in a direction opposite to the intended landing direction. This leg is flown approximately 1/2 to 1 mile out from the landing runway and at the specified traffic pattern altitude.”
So, if you’re (only) a mile from the airport, I just hope your intentions are clear…
As a CFI, I want my students to be AT pattern altitude 2-3 miles away, to take “one last look” at ADS-B info, then it’s “eyes outside” the rest of the way. One midair will ruin your day…..
What a frightening experience. I’m trying to think about my own scanning when I enter the pattern. With the need to carefully control the groundtrack to parallel the runway, I’m sure there’s some breakdown of normal scanning (wingtip to wingtip). There’s naturally going to be some fixation toward the runway – that probably does leave a gap in scanning to the other side. Good thing his peripheral vision caught the intruder.
God was your co-pilot. /J
Gracias a ese copiloto se puede volar muchas veces