ASRS 2023441
ACN 2023441 · 2023-07 · Small Aircraft, Low Wing, 1 Eng, Fixed Gear
General aviation pilot reported a near miss on final approach at a non-tower airport while proficiency training. The pilot performed an evasive maneuver at low altitude to avoid the other aircraft, re-entered the pattern and landed safely.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim, de-identified by NASA. Placeholders: ZZZ,
X, Y.
While practicing VFR ILS approaches into MCC (no view limiting of any kind), on short final, another aircraft turns final directly onto me, and I am forced to take extreme action (45 degrees or more of bank) to avoid a collision, while only ~500ft AGL, with full flaps. In retrospect this was an extremely dangerous situation, and I am very confident had I not taken any steps to avoid this collision, there is a high likelihood an accident would have occurred. From memory, I made 10 mile, 5 mile, 3 mile, and short final callouts on the CTAF 122.975. I do not believe there was any radio issue on my end, as I had just spoken to someone else on CTAF shortly beforehand (an instructor I know flying another airplane). Someone calls their base, I again inform them I am on short final, my flight logs show me about 0.5nm from the numbers; seemingly ignoring my communications, they call their final. I get a TCAS alert from Foreflight (connected directly to my plane's GPS & ADS-B receiver via a GTX 345 + FlightStream), confirm it visually, and see them on a rapid collision course for where I was going to be in a few seconds, and did a hard 360 to avoid. At about XA:46Z time, limited ADS-B replay data shows me at 600ft and Aircraft Y, the plane in question, at 1125ft. Upon looking up the tail number, it seems Aircraft Y is a low wing. It is very well possible that the pilot did not see me due to this fact, as forward- below visibility can be reduced for certain low wings. It is also possible he either did not receive my communications, or did not heed them appropriately. In retrospect, there are a few things I could've done better: Although I made an attempt by trying to call my short final multiple times, I could've communicated to the pilot on base directly that if he wanted to avoid a collision, he should hold off on turning base until he had me in sight as passing his wing. I could've retracted my flaps BEFORE taking corrective action. I could have taken corrective action as soon as he called base; albeit there was not much time between the base and final call, so I was still processing the decision the other pilot made- - was he trying to get there first, or did he just not know I was there? I could have broken off to the left instead of the right in this particular case. After the collision was avoided, I should have immediately discussed it with the pilot in question. I was a bit shocked, and due to adrenaline dump, I instead opted to rejoin the traffic pattern on a 45 and immediately land so I could collect my thoughts.
NASA classification · Anomalies
- Conflict
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
- Inflight Event / Encounter
NASA classification · Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Airspace Structure · Human Factors · Procedure
- Primary Problem
- Human Factors
ASRS reports are voluntary, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective; they are not investigated and cannot be used to infer prevalence. Authoritative source: asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗