Near-miss (or hit) with RV in the Denver area

Yesterday I flew my son and two of his college classmates from Denver Centennial to Greeley in my Mooney. On the return flight home I had quite a scare when an RV suddenly appeared in my windscreen, seemingly out of nowhere. We both had to take evasive action to avoid a collision; I'm guessing we were less than 500 feet apart, going opposite directions.

I was under VFR flight following with Denver Approach at the time, as is my custom. I notified the controller and he said he had no targets in my vicinity. My Mooney is equipped with Honeywell TCAS that paints bogeys on the G1000 moving map, and the RV didn't show up there, either. The way my TCAS works, if your transponder is on and you're close enough to me, it will see you.

The approach controller and I concluded that the RV's transponder was either not on or not working. This occurred well within the 30NM transponder veil for the Denver class B, so obviously a transponder was required.

Safety lessons from this event:

1. The area where this occurred is near the following airports: Longmont, Erie, Fort Collins and Greeley. All are uncontrolled fields. If you're departing an uncontrolled field, be sure to check your transponder during your preflight routine!

2. In 30 years of flying I've had two near misses, both while under radar surveillance (the first was when I was IFR in VMC; yesterday's was when I was VFR). Don't become complacent about other traffic, even if you're getting flight following. Fortunately I always keep my head on a swivel and was able to avoid disaster yesterday, but it never ceases to amaze me how difficult it is to see other aircraft and how rapidly we close on one another. This flight occurred midday, when it's especially difficult to see other aircraft.

Stay safe, my friends.

Thanks for sharing!

As you know, a transponder isn't required within the 30nm veil if the aircraft doesn't have an electrical system. I know of at least one such aircraft in the vicinity of the KMSP class B ring, so they're definitely out there.

Brad, I forgot about that exemption but you're absolutely right. One more reason not to trust FF and TCAS. Thanks for reminding me.

Just to be clear, I'm not accusing the RV pilot of wrongdoing. I just wanted to share my experience for everyone's knowledge and benefit.

busy area

I operate in that area with my RV4 often and it is a busy corridor. technology is a great tool but pilots tend to glue their eyeballs to all the fancy EFIS screens. Searching and seeing other aircraft is a skill to be learned and to see those airplanes one has to look out the windows.. This subject has come up often but I challenge everyone to self assess the amount of time you spend with your eyes inside....

CM

I don't believe that flight following is responsible for traffic advisories.

colojo said:

I'm guessing we were less than 500 feet apart, going opposite directions.

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500 feet. 1.66 football fields. About a 1/10 mile. Is that really a near miss, or just two VFR airplanes at a perfectly reasonable passing distance?

You were doing exactly what a good pilot should be doing...looking out the window when VFR, and maneuvering as necessary.

I'm gonna go drive my truck now. Between here and the office I'm pretty sure a few dozen cars will miss hitting me head-on by less than 5 feet.

Transponder on?

This near miss is why I have put in ADS-B out so other can see me. One time I took off out of KAPA and forgot to turn on my transponder but the tower was quick to tell me that my transponder was not working, so I quickly turned it on! Oops...
I try to follow my pre-take off check list carefully and now I even double check it to make sure I turn the transponder from ground to altitude and all the stuff it right before I push the throttle forward.

DanH said:

500 feet. 1.66 football fields. About a 1/10 mile. Is that really a near miss, or just two VFR airplanes at a perfectly reasonable passing distance?

You were doing exactly what a good pilot should be doing...looking out the window when VFR, and maneuvering as necessary.

I'm gonna go drive my truck now. Between here and the office I'm pretty sure a few dozen cars will miss hitting me head-on by less than 5 feet.

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500 feet goes by pretty quickly when two airplanes are unknowingly converging head-on at 300+ mph. That certainly would've made me uncomfortable.

RV3bpilot said:

This near miss is why I have put in ADS-B out so other can see me.

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This won't help unless the other plane has either ADSB-In or a TCAS with ability to read and interpret ADSB messages.

What was the....

Vertical separation? Two aircraft cruising at an altitude above 3000 AGL should have had at least 1000' vertical separation. Were you at cruise?

A couple of weeks ago on a flight back from Monterey and on flight following, I was instructed to make a 20 degrees right turn for traffic. The 20 degrees turn put me directly on the path of plane coming ahead 400 feet above us, according to the info received from my ADS-B. I was very surprised not to get any warning from the Norcal about that traffic and he did not seem to go any either as he was not making any direction or altitude change. Of course as we got closer, I turned farther to the right and lowered my altitude for a bit more comfortable distance. Had I not made directional change, we would have been pretty much on the same path, only separated by a few hundred feet, which is still reasonable but a heads up warning would have been nice.

The more you fly the faster you get used to lesser separation distances.When I started flying my RV in 2011 I needed a lot of "personal airspace" around me. Not so much now just enough to see and avoid safely. And I am in a 500-is-a-lot-camp

jetjok said:

Vertical separation? Two aircraft cruising at an altitude above 3000 AGL should have had at least 1000' vertical separation. Were you at cruise?

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Not likely to be above 3000 AGL in that area unless you are on a longer trip and transitioning the area. Like he said, there's quite a few airports in that area so lots of planes coming down to pattern altitude or coming from pattern altitude. 3k AGL is 10k MSL in this part of Colorado.

As I often tell people, there are a lot of aircraft flying around without electrical systems. Thus, they have no requirement for a transponder or ADS-B (or capability to install either) AND they will be allowed inside the mode-C ring, under controlled airspace after 2020. However, aircraft with electrical systems and mode-S transponders but with no ADS-B won't be allowed in that same airspace. I'm not sure why that makes sense to the rule makers but apparently it does.

colojo said:

Brad, I forgot about that exemption but you're absolutely right. One more reason not to trust FF and TCAS. Thanks for reminding me.
...

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Shouldn?t the controller have picked up a primary target on his radar, even without a transponder / ADS-B and been able to give you a warning that something was out there?

It was a crazy day Saturday for traffic around Denver. I flew over to Longmont for some skydiving adventures and the traffic was unreal. Sunday wasn't a whole lot better. Spring has sprung and all the indians were out in force.

Vlad said:

The more you fly the faster you get used to lesser separation distances.When I started flying my RV in 2011 I needed a lot of "personal airspace" around me. Not so much now just enough to see and avoid safely. And I am in a 500-is-a-lot-camp

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Especially at a cooperative merge

ChiefPilot said:

Especially at a cooperative merge

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Flight following is under no obligation to provide separation to VFR traffic. It is a optional courtesy service as they are often too busy providing required IFR separation. I've heard of a controller quoted saying that they see conflicting VFR courses daily but do not call them out... the "big sky" theory.

Transponders that automatically switch on a 500 AGL are great in case you forget.

ADS-B is awesome, but ADS-B OUT is needed to provide comprehensive and useful information. See portable or "remotely installed" units from SkyGuard, including the new units with 2020 approval for less than $1,500 (previous generation out units were only about $750). Personally I like the SkyGuard for ADS-B OUT and Stratus / ForeFlight for ADS-B IN.

Looking outside is essential, especially in the pattern and around airports. That said, "See and avoid" is extremely limited. One flight in busy airspace with ADS-B IN/OUT will show how much you DON'T see, even when knowing exactly where the other aircraft is. Not to mention that most non-airport mid-air collisions occur from the rear or rear 3/4 which are in your blind spot anyway. I could post images of 8 aircraft within 5 nm and 2,000 feet, a regular occurrence in some areas.

ADS-B is also helpful in assessing what areas are less busy and choosing flight paths and altitudes accordingly. It is great to provide pre-emptive extra separation. e.g. slight modifications of your altitude or course for extra separation.

Most of my "near misses" (not close enough to be incidents) have been within Class-D where the controller called out the traffic seconds before or simultaneously with the conflict.

Mid airs are rare, bird strikes are much more likely. Keep your scan outside %80 of the time. The view outside is much better than inside unless Susie is along for the distraction.

Remember, it only takes 10' to miss them.

N941WR said:

Shouldn?t the controller have picked up a primary target on his radar, even without a transponder / ADS-B and been able to give you a warning that something was out there?

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After I advised the controller about what happened, he told me he saw a faint target two miles behind me. But that's all.

I agree with those who say that ATC is under no obligation to provide traffic advisories during VFR FF. Part of my point was to remind everyone not to get complacent when under FF.

Except for occasional trips to Greeley, I rarely fly across Denver. Most of my trips are out of town. But I spoke with my flight instructor about what happened and he went over a few things with me on the backside of the Denver Terminal Area Chart. He told me that the spot where this happened is probably one of the busiest VFR hot spots along the entire Front Range. He suggested that I fly around the Denver Class B to the east next time I go to Greeley, especially on weekends. I've done that before and it's definitely a lot quieter out there!