NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
General aviation pilot reported a near miss while under ATC control. The pilot misunderstood ATC instructions to provide separation.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
I was on a visual to VNY handed off by Burbank tower to Van Nuys Tower. VNY advised me to enter the left downwind for [Runway] 16L on a 45. I was headed exactly as asked when the tower then told me to turn north to go up the 405 [freeway], "if possible". I was already headed to do exactly that, and not sure why he gave that further instruction. It was confusing, and made me think I was already passing the 405. I started to turn to what look like the 405 a large thorough fair. As I rolled out, I realized the 405 was off my right wing and I needed to go further west. Right at that moment, the controller told me to make an 180 immediately. He did not give me a direction to turn, and I didn't understand why. I repeated his instruction and made an immediate turn as requested, thinking there was an issue with traffic. I went to the right as not to fly right at VNY. The tower then instructed me to fly to the 101 [freeway]. He queried again and said "I told you to fly south". I let him know that is exactly what I was doing. It turns out that this maneuver caused me to come within close proximity to an airliner going to Burbank. In hindsight, it did not make sense to have me do an 180, all the Tower need to do was have me come west, and continue and I would not have come close to the airliner, and I would have been clear of his flight path, and we would have been deconflicted. For my part, I will try to clarify the request, and ensure I am seeing the exact item he is referencing in "ground terms.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- ATC Issue
- Conflict
- Deviation - Track / Heading
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Airspace Structure · Human Factors · Procedure
- Primary Problem
- Human Factors
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.