Close Calls, Near Misses, and Collisions

I have been following the blogging of a new student pilot from Down Under. Dave refers to himself as a middle-aged pilot learning to fly for the first time in Sydney, Australia. As with pilots all over, he is now experiencing everything he has to learn about flying and he is doing a great job describing it in his blog, MidLifePilot’s Flying Blog.

One thing about learning to fly is experiencing new things for the first time. As a new pilot, you will gain great insight to different aspects of flying as you become… “experienced.” Some of what you will learn as a pilot can be great fun, some will be boring, there will be exciting things, and there will be the frightening.

The trick in learning how to fly and stay alive is determining the difference between all of the above. In his blog published May 3, 2011, Dave experienced a near miss.

As I read between the lines of his piece, I could tell this was something new for Dave. He did a wonderful job sorting out the event and taking stock of his emotions. I wish I could have been there to see exactly what Dave witnessed. Anyone who has flown any length of time has experienced similar events in their flying.

 I classify such events, in order of danger and fright, close calls, near misses, and collisions. Close calls and near misses are one thing; collisions altogether something else. You can experience the first two, but not the latter. Typically, a collision in flight is fatal.

Dave did a masterful job in explaining the scenario. He also understood what should and should not have happened. I could tell from his writing, he gets it.

There is no point in arguing about who has the right-of-way when one airplane becomes a little too close to another. It does not matter. Each pilot needs to be aware of the other’s presence, anticipate their direction of flight, and avoid one another. For those in the airplane, it matters not who is at fault in a collision; typically, everyone on both airplanes are dead. Rarely are there survivors when wreckage falls out of the sky.

Yes, sometimes there are those instances in which aircraft are damaged and flyable. These are rare and if you should find yourself in that position, let me pass on a bit of our safety brief from my old days in the Navy. If you are still flying after a collision, you are going to become an “instantaneous test pilot.”

After the collision, keep in mind no one has flight-tested the airplane you are flying. You are the unlucky individual who will determine the flight characteristics while trying to get out of the sky as soon as possible. The first thing you have to be certain of is the flying capabilities of the airplane. In other words, is it going to stall at a higher airspeed than normal? Will it fall off to the left or right out of control if you get too slow? Will it have strange pitching tendencies when you go too fast or too slow? Can you fly it only with the flaps up? Or down?

While at altitude and with sufficient room for recovery, try to configure the airplane for the approach and landing. In other words, after determining your final configuration with gear and flaps, slowly reduce the airspeed to determine how the airplane handles. If you reach the normal approach speeds, good for you. If, on the other hand, you start to feel funny flutters, pre-stall buffet, humming, thrumming, or anything like this, add 10 knots to your indicated airspeed and this becomes your new approach speed. Do not go any slower. Fly it on.

Of course, as Dave pointed out in his blog, the best way to avoid this nasty situation is see and avoid. You have to be watching out always for the unexpected. Sometimes, it can be close. Keep your situational awareness up—and you will be fine.

As they used to say in the old TV show, Hill Street Blues, “Be careful out there.”

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© 2011 J. Clark

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