Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 26

PREFLIGHT ACCIDENT ANALYSIS
BY IAN J. TWOMBLY
IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE
THE TRAFFIC PATTERN IS A BUSY PLACE
THE THREAT OF A MIDAIR COLLISION
strikes fear in the hearts of many pilots,
which is understandable when you consider
the consequences. Thankfully, they
are relatively rare, occurring only a few
times a year. Digging into the data from
NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System
shows that close calls are disturbingly
common, however.
NASA's ASRS program is a voluntary
reporting system that encourages pilots and
other aviation professionals to submit information
that could improve aviation safety.
By doing so, the pilot is immune from certificate
actions, assuming she meets certain
conditions. NASA then analyzes the reports
" C172 pilot reported an NMAC
[near-midair collision] after an aircraft
turned the wrong way during a
go-around. "
" GA pilot reported an NMAC with
another aircraft that had turned to a
wrong heading. "
" GA student pilot reported an NMAC
with a helicopter in the traffic pattern at a
non-towered airport while on takeoff. "
" A flight instructor reported an
NMAC even during initial climb with
opposite direction landing aircraft. "
These are just a few of the summaries
from the report. In the report's 50 selected
narratives, 17 dealt with near midair colliIT
SEEMS SAFE TO SAY THAT FOR THE FEWER THAN 20
MIDAIR COLLISIONS A YEAR, THERE ARE DOZENS, AND
POSSIBLY HUNDREDS MORE CLOSE CALLS THAT MOST
OF US NEVER HEAR ABOUT.
for trends or to identify areas of improvement.
Earlier this year the agency created a
summary of recent flight training reports, a
shocking number of which involved close
calls with other aircraft.
Because the reports are voluntary
and self-selecting, and because the NASA
summary is a selection of the reports, we
can't glean any data from the information,
such as how often midair collision
hazards occur, or how likely we are to
experience one and where. But we can
get a sense of what's happening in the
flight training world on a day-to-day
basis, and what concerns instructors and
students. In short: The traffic pattern can
be a crazy place.
26
sions. It shows that, if nothing else, the staff
who analyze the reports believed it a big
enough issue to include so many incidents.
Despite the earlier caveats, it also seems
safe to say that for the fewer than 20 midair
collisions a year, there are dozens, and possibly
hundreds more close calls that most of
us never hear about.
Most experts agree that the biggest
risk of a collision is near the airport. The
reasons are obvious. It's where we all congregate.
It's also a time of high workload
and many distractions. One would think
an air traffic control tower would help
solve the issue, but that's not the case.
There have been two high-profile midair
collisions in the second half of this year,
FLIGHT TRAINING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022
and one was at a busy airport with a control
tower.
There's also no clear trend in terms of
types of aircraft or operation. Sometimes
the mix of instrument and visual traffic
can cause a problem, as the instrument
traffic tries to land straight in from an
approach while the visual traffic is in the
pattern. But sometimes it's a beautiful day
and two airplanes already in the pattern
come together. It can be two airplanes,
an airplane and a helicopter, or even two
gliders. The point is that whatever you fly
and wherever you fly it, there is a risk of a
midair collision.
If the NASA reports and recent
accidents are any indication, the risk is
usually highest when someone has made a
mistake. An airplane turns the wrong way
or does something else unexpected, or a
pilot makes the wrong radio calls, and the
pilot of the other airplane trusts the radio
more than his eyes. Some accidents have
come after the pilot lines up for the wrong
runway or identifies the wrong traffic.
Tools like ADS-B traffic can help, but
our best resource is still our eyes. And to
best use them, fly defensively around the
pattern. Motorcycle riders know this well.
They expect cars to miss stop signs and
back out of driveways without looking.
Pilots should do the same in the pattern.
Expect someone to cut you off on downwind,
anticipate landing traffic from the
other direction, and assume that another
pilot's radio calls are wrong until you can
visually verify their true location.
Trust only what you can see and be
skeptical of what you can't. It's the only
way to ensure you end up as the writer of
a NASA report and not the subject of one
from the NTSB.
ian.twombly@aopa.org

Flight Training - November/December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - November/December 2022

Contents
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - Intro
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - Cover1
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - Cover2
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - Contents
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 2
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 3
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 4
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 5
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 6
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 7
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 8
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 9
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 10
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 11
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 12
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 13
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 14
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 15
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 16
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 17
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 18
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 19
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 20
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 21
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 22
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 23
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 24
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 25
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 26
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 27
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 28
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 29
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 30
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 31
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 32
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 33
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 34
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 35
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 36
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 37
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Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 40
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 41
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 42
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Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 56
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - Cover3
Flight Training - November/December 2022 - Cover4
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