Flight following, use it.

Resq5hvy

Took my classic (old) Arrow to Tiffin Aire talk about the eddy current test my prop needs and the red arch 2100-2350 rules also took a friend prop for full resuscitation, it coded last week inflight on his Comanche.

I wrote out a rant about an asshole that intentionally attempted to cause a mid air or just scare the crap out of me by climbing at me and causing my iPad to turn red. The iPad said 100 feet below and he was climbing. I did balls to the walls, pulled back and went straight up. Then pulled power out and started down, quickly, as a jet was passing overhead.

It was a status airplane with a parachute. I saw the guy and his plane, our paths intersected, only separated by 300 feet at the most after I climbed. After he pushed me around he dove then turned his exponder off.

I was a little upset. Approach heard me, they heard him laugh at me.

Last week it was an Eagle, this week single fixed gear super plane. I better stay home next week.

Unit74

Sounds like a call to the FSDO to me. Chit happens sometimes, but the transponder off move is an egregious, certificate suspending action. I don’t think it would be too incredibly hard to figure out the N number with a bit of sleuthing.

Resq5hvy

That is a good idea.

Resq5hvy

I spoke to the other pilot I was with, he is a CFII, but I cannot receive flight instruction because I cannot pass a medical so the insurance company says I cannot receive instruction so we did not do any learning. Now we have the legal out of they way.

Approach did not know the N-Number and they attempted to contact the aircraft several times as the unknown aircraft over North Columbus, Westerville area. My CFII friend is surprised ATC did not warn us asshole pilot was near us. He explained what he heard was the unknown aircraft was around 2000 feet msl and we were at 5500 and even though we where talking and squeaking with Approach we were above the top of their control authority of the class Charlie airspace. They kinda had authority over us and they kinda had no responsibility to us. That confused me, even though we were above Columbus approach responsibility they still liked us to talk with them but they don’t have to provide separation and Indy Center does not handle us scum in the area.

The short of it ATC was looking for this unknown plane for several minutes before they made me a little unhappy. My friend does not think they will figure out who it was. He also thinks my questioning of the parentage and whether or not said airplane aimer was born legitimately will be listed as my complaint of his actions. ATC asked us to confirm our N Number and home base and that I am the owner of the aircraft. He said that was the official complaint.

Oh well, I got to watch a landing in a 27 knot cross wind, I was impressed. This dude is 23, headed to the airlines soon, handles my Arrow like he has been flying it all his life. He is a good teacher but I like to just sit back and watch a master fly.

empannin

What is your tail number and when was this? With some sleuthing on Flightaware should be easy to track down.

Turning off a transponder is about the dumbest thing you can do - a willful act to "hide". If they had ADSB it is logged if they are using flight following or not. So, presumably they had a clear track almost intersecting yours prior to them turning it off.

If you can describe them will be even more damning as could only take place in proximity. Such as hat, shirt color, evil mustache, scrubs and a stethoscope?

griff390

Resq;

Almost causing a mid-air is bad enough, but laughing about it is inexcusable. Unit74 is right on. If you can provide an accurate location and time to the FAA, and if Mr. Bonehead pilot had his xponder on at the time, they should be able to track it and find him/her.

Flightaware.com will have your flght profile, lat/lon location, time stamps, heading, altitudes, etc. Download or cut/paste and save everything you can including the raw datalog from your flight. The rapid climb and descent you performed for collision avoidance should be obvious in the flight profile. All they need to do is match up that time and location with any other aircraft in the vicinity. With only a couple hundred feet separation, it should be obvious which other aircraft was there.

Stay safe up there. Good job avoiding the birds and the bird-brains.

griff390

PS - Don't hesitate, get and save the data as soon as possible.

You can track by airport as well. Go to flight aware, click Flight Tracking > Browse by Airport > (pick state) > Pick airport. Down near the bottom left of the page, under "Related Links", there's a link to purchase Excel flight history for the airport.

Hope this helps.

jacobsja

Maybe even download a copy of the archived audio log if it is available. Disclaimer: for some reason not all comm gets captured. Even if the audio is incomplete, it can at least help thread details together with what is present.

Resq5hvy

@empannin

I am N15665 PA 28R 200

Location was over the Franklin & Delaware County line near Ohio route 3. Also a little west 10 miles or so of APE, VOR. This took place about noon on Friday the 15April2022.

I have been able to watch my own flights but never knew I could see other traffic.

empannin

Hi, this is your track and the white line is about 12. I think you must have zoomed up and your speed went down.

To track flights from an airport use this. Free for the last 7 days of history. Were they landing at KLHQ?

https://www.radarbox.com/data/airports/klhq

Resq5hvy

They went east, I landed at KLHQ, well, my instructor landed, I am not up to a 30kt x wind.

I can’t see what you posted too well, I am on my phone, I will try to see it on my iPad later.

Resq5hvy

Our altitude started down as soon as we got south of the extended centerline of KCMH or close to it. I think we were north of I 70 and deep inside the class Charlie airspace when he told us change to advisory, squak 1200, don’t hit anything in my airspace, don’t come back, thank you for you business, now go away. I think all of Dayton and Columbus was being done by 1 guy. It was lunch time.

The exchange Super Pilot had with ATC we were north along the body of water our flight path has us skirt. He passed under our nose between the dam of that body of water and the freeway that goes around the city.

empannin

Ok, much earlier then. If you had an idea of what airport he was landing at then their position could be back tracked to be near yours.

The free data let's you look back 7 days

Resq5hvy

I tried to find him after my ADSB turned red. We watched him disappear to the east and I could not get anything to track him on my sentry ADSB receiver. I even turned off only show nearby traffic and he did not show up at all. That’s why I think he turned off his transponder because he totally went black. Flight Aware only showed us no one to our east that was not a jet.

I gave passing thought to following him but just let it go. The only thing I could come up with that I could place him under arrest would be inducing panic and that is possibly a stretch. I would have needed someone from the FSDO to arrest for FAA crimes. I am also medically retired and have difficulty walking, it is obvious I don’t pose a great threat physically, so it would be me and S&W till local law enforcement arrived on an officer needs assistance. Being an asshole in flight did not justify such a call and putting others at risk having cops drive lights and siren to deal with him was not fitting of the crime.

If he does it again and our helicopter is up, I may ask them to chase his ass down. I am watching and listening for calls like what he did. What goes around comes around.

I am retired and my instructor needs hours, if I am able to walk, we fly and we always have full tanks. He is a fast plane with a parachute but my Arrow is in the yellow at 18” and 2400 RPM. We can try going deep in the yellow and fly 25 squared, we have not done that, maybe we can keep him in sight.