Almost hit a glider today.....

[freightdoggie]

Cruising at 4000 MSL, IFR, right below a cloud deck, BAM, out of no where a frickin glider going exact opposite direction at 4000MSL also. ATC didnt even have him on radar. I banked left asap, and avoided him,.....

I would estimate 1000 feet off my right wing tip, im just glad he didnt manuver into me, hell, I wonder if he even saw me...
Keep your eyes open guys!! Fly Safe

Freightdoggie

 

[I.P. Freley]

Bet that woke your a$$ up!

Having been within 300ft of another airplane while airborne on at least three occasions, I know the feeling. And no, I didn't mean I was doing formation flying.

At least not intentionally.

Beware the gliderports, beware the smaller airports around NYC, and beware "practice areas with a high density of student traffic".

 

[flyifrvfr]

You have been 300 feet from an airplane? I have been so close to airplanes on 4 different occassions that I could hear thier engines. The first time I was on the Right and the other airplane was on the left. I could see down into his cockpit, I was in a Cessna, and he was in a Tomahawk. Missed him by 100 feet!

The second time was during instrument training 3 mile viz in haze. Same set up except this time the Bonanza crossed in front of me by about 50 feet. I saw one flash of his strobes and he blew right past me, I was flying a Beech Sundowner.

Third time I was heading back from North Carolina flying a Beech Sierra at 7000 feet. I was talking to Patuxent Approach and up comes a Pilatus PC12 from under, and just in front of me. I was on an IFR flight plan in VMC, the PC12 saw me at the last second and made a hard right climbing turn. We were so close that I could hear his engine. I know see and avoid is my responsibility, but how could you see an airplane climbing from underneath and in front of you. I would have been dead, and the NTSB would say I didn't keep a good look out.

The last time, I was in training for my commercial and had been instructed to enter a right downwind for runway 33 at Martin State. At the same time a student was landing and couldn't make the first turn-off, which forced a Kingair to do a go-around. The Kingair was instructed to enter a right downwind for 33 and was supposed to climb to the turboprop pattern (1500 feet). I was instructed to do a left 360 and rejoin the right downwind at my pattern altitude (1000 feet) and you can guess what happened next. Upon reaching 180 degrees of turn, I was face to face with a Kingair and I made a hard right turn and hoped he would turn right also and not left. We missed each other by maybe 50 feet.

I got on the radio and informed the Kingair that his right engine was a little out of sinc. He laughed and siad he was sorry, I told the controller that she should have told me to make a short approach and that she almost killed me. She didn't even apologize, she expected the Kingair to be at the correct altitude, but she should know that what you expect may not always happen. It was a lesson for me as well.

 

[pilotman2105]

What annoys me is the people that do not follow the VFR cruising altitudes. I've been closer than I care to be to two aircraft because of this. I was flying 4500 feet westbound and someone was flying that same altitude east bound. I saw them about 1/2 mile out and had to descend and turn to the right to avoid. Someone else doing the same thing near a VOR that I was tracking (VFR). This time had to climb to avoid.

Flying is safe until you start to factor in that part about not following the rules.

Keep up that visual scan!

 

[labbats]

What annoys me is the people that do not follow the VFR cruising altitudes. I've been closer than I care to be to two aircraft because of this. I was flying 4500 feet westbound and someone was flying that same altitude east bound. I saw them about 1/2 mile out and had to descend and turn to the right to avoid. Someone else doing the same thing near a VOR that I was tracking (VFR). This time had to climb to avoid.

Flying is safe until you start to factor in that part about not following the rules.

Keep up that visual scan!

The sad fact is that under 3000' AGL you can go whatever altitude you want. I've seen other flight instructors tell their students to go at roughly 2900' AGL any which way they please. When I try to talk to them about it, they tell me to read the regs. Hey, the regs have a lot of stuff that's legal but foolish.

 

[pilotman2105]

The sad fact is that under 3000' AGL you can go whatever altitude you want. I've seen other flight instructors tell their students to go at roughly 2900' AGL any which way they please. When I try to talk to them about it, they tell me to read the regs. Hey, the regs have a lot of stuff that's legal but foolish.

True. It's the blatant disregard or misunderstanding (ie: cruising at 4500 eastbound) that is going to outright kill people. The flying at 2,900 AGL is also not the smartest move in the world, but go figure. Any CFI that does that is doing a disservice to their student.

 

[wrigley23]

If you fly anywhere near 3000' VFR, you're asking for it because that's a very popular IFR practice approach altitude on the East coast.

Talk about close calls...I had a pack of Navy S-3s pop out of some clouds and buzz over me by 500' once. Scared the $hit out of me! I was monitering approach, but all I heard was "Top Cat 7 contact SeaLord".

 

[I.P. Freley]

>>>"Top Cat 7 contact SeaLord".<<<

Are you sure those weren't the black UN helicopters leaving chemtrails?

Man, you listen to Coast-to-Coast AM enough times and you start to believe such things are possible...

 

[wrigley23]

Yeah, I've heard it enough. Apparently SeaLord is the controlling agency out in the Warning areas on the East coast of Florida. The fighters do their runs from the bases out to the Carriers. Hose, Standaman, back me up!

Wait, I don't know what I'm talking about, oh no I'm being sedated..................

 

[I.P. Freley]

...by the infamous Pharmaceuticals Cabal, no doubt.



BEWARE CHEMTRAILS! IGNORE THEM AT YOUR PERIL!!

In case anyone's forgotten, you can learn how to make a "chembuster" at this site:

http://educate-yourself.org/ct/goodbyects10jan02.shtml

Educate yourself, dammit!

 

[ShawnC]

Yes you got to watch out for gliders, we are often right around the cloud base. Because of the nature of our flying we don't follow any of the cruising altitude rules. And we are freaking white, which makes us hard to see (who's bright idea was that).

Well as my CFI-G once said, keep your head on a swivel, and make sure your parachute has been recently packed.

 

[freightdoggie]

Topic Review (Newest First)

'ShawnC

Well as my CFI-G once said, keep your head on a swivel, and make sure your parachute has been recently packed.

Believe me there would have been no time to pull your rip cord. The right tip tank on my C-310 would have made sure of that...

 

[Vector4fun]

Guys, just so you know, my experience, gliders very very seldom have transponders, and are also pi$$-poor radar targets. A flock of geese make a better target. A group of skydivers make a better target! I had an MD-80 miss one by less than a half-mile on final the other day, the genius in the glider was doing S-turns across both localizers about 25 miles from the airport at around 8000'. I'm sure he thought he was plenty high, but he was at a perfect altitude to meet the jets inbound the STARs.

 

[ShawnC]

Believe me there would have been no time to pull your rip cord. The right tip tank on my C-310 would have made sure of that...

Maybe, never been in a situation where I might need it. I think it's more meant for in case we clip wings in a thermal.

Vector,

That's unusual, most controlling agencies seem to pick us up fine even without an Xponder. Thankfully glider sized mode C xponders are getting cheap enough to install in even training gliders.

 

[Vector4fun]

Shawn,

I guess it depends on the glider. I imagine the older Schwitzers with some aluminum in the dope or structure would show up. But some of the glass jobs are just darn near invisible around here, and almost none I've ever had reported to me have a transponder on. I may get a hit or two, but then it dissapears as they circle in the thermals, very faint and iffy.

Some years ago, the Army was leasing (?) some Vari-Ezes with wood props to test their air-defense systems at Ft. Bliss. Was the "stealthiest" thing they could get their hands on for testing, and yes, they WERE stealthy! At least, on our radar...

 

[501261]

Cruising at 4000 MSL, IFR, right below a cloud deck, BAM, out of no where a frickin glider going exact opposite direction at 4000MSL also. ATC didnt even have him on radar. I banked left asap, and avoided him,.....

I would estimate 1000 feet off my right wing tip, im just glad he didnt manuver into me, hell, I wonder if he even saw me...
Keep your eyes open guys!! Fly Safe

Freightdoggie

That’s life, the longer you fly the more midair’s you are likely to have.

A couple of notes, you mentioned you where IFR. As you saw first hand being IFR in VMC means squat! In VMC the rule is to see and avoid.

Secondly remember that glider actually has the right of way.

Personally, I wish that gliders flying above 3000AGL were required to have transponders, unfortunately it won’t become an FAR until something bad happens. Hell, I’ve seen a glider around FL240 on the Blue Mesa departure out of Denver and he sure as hell wasn’t talking to anybody.

 

[ShawnC]

Re: Re: Almost hit a glider today.....

A couple of notes, you mentioned you where IFR. As you saw first hand being IFR in VMC means squat! In VMC the rule is to see and avoid.

Secondly remember that glider actually has the right of way.

Personally, I wish that gliders flying above 3000AGL were required to have transponders, unfortunately it won’t become an FAR until something bad happens. Hell, I’ve seen a glider around FL240 on the Blue Mesa departure out of Denver and he sure as hell wasn’t talking to anybody.

3000 ft is a little low, 4000 ft would be a more reasonable number (most training flights are 3000 and below), just my opinion.

Got to love the wave. Though I hear it's mighty cold up there.

Some years ago, the Army was leasing (?) some Vari-Ezes with wood props to test their air-defense systems at Ft. Bliss. Was the "stealthiest" thing they could get their hands on for testing, and yes, they WERE stealthy! At least, on our radar...

Better not say that too loudly I remember some news program was trying to say that the Velocity was a stealthy aircraft, and was being used by drug smugglers, and could be used by terrorists.