Mid Air Collision in near Charleston, SC F16 v C150

Not a F-16 pilot..... There is a lot of civilian traffic that will fly around just completely ignorant of other traffic in both VFR and IFR. From the story it sounds like the F-16 may have been IFR and smacked into somebody he wasn't able to see, it will be interesting what the investigation shows. I have some great video of a glider popping out from behind a bunch of clouds on one of the points of busy STAR (standard terminal arrival route) going into San Antonio. He was maybe clear of clouds by 100 feet and is very lucky that we were able to avoid. I'm also very close to a small airport and see guys trying to scud run all the time just doing stupid stuff.

 

+1

As a military pilot (I fly heavies) we get pretty close calls more often than I'd like with small bug smasher GA traffic. Unfortunately they are not always talking with ATC and I think some GA guys are unaware of the high volumes of military traffic around military bases.

 

Observe and avoid, but the 150 pilot likely never even saw the F16.

 

Not familiar with the location. Was the 150 within an area where a transponder is required?

 

This is tragic. Anytime one guy is flying around as a singleton at 250-350 KIAS, all it takes is a few seconds looking down, or to the side, or to be rolling out of a turn, and a face full of C-150 can be there to greet you.

Flying IFR and flying in IMC are entirely different things. In either case, in the Viper, the HUD is the primary flight reference...attitude, altitude, airspeed, and on approaches, course and glide slope as well. So if, in this case the F-16 was actually in IMC, the pilot would have been even more likely to have been staring out the front than if flying in VMC on an IFR clearance.

After a while, and after scaring ourselves over the years, most of us get in the habit of scanning the radar very frequently, even while flying in IMC, and get used to evaluating every return we see for heading altitude and airspeed. As a flight of two or more, we pride ourselves on never missing (no pun intended) another aircraft anywhere in front of us and being the first to spot a potential threat on radar is a gratifying event as that's our job...to find potential threats, evaluate them based on flight parameters and other means, target and kill them if they are hostile. All that said, single ship, down low, potentially in and out of weather, can still lead to near collisions and real collisions.

Sad. I guarantee this pilot feels absolutely terrible. I know hundreds, if not thousands of other Viper drivers and not one of them would take this lightly. I'll be looking at the SIB on this one.

 

Without bashing on GA pilots (im one), there is a big difference between the weekend warrior and the professional 20k hour pilot. One is just out there in his C152 happy as a clam to get a $100 burger, the other is on an IFR flight plan, full TCASII, scanning, going 330kts etc.

There is a section on the arrival to KVNY from the East where smaller GA traffic blaze through at random VFR altitudes. Coming back from Vegas on a weekend....you have to be alert. Good luck on getting a traffic alert from Joshua.

See and avoid only goes so far. If the F16 was on an IFR flight plan and in VFR conditions, he shares separation responsibility with the controller.

 

Looking at posted photos, I'm surprised that the F-16 seems to be fragmented... at least the nozzle is separated.

The C-150 looks to be mostly intact and upside-down in a tree.

Even though the verbage says otherwise.

I would think the jet would be intact and the Cessna reduced to shards.

 

The only close encounter that I ever had was related to military traffic and it seems to stem from different control systems working independently. Talking to large metro center approach while overflying airport on a flight plan, was asked to descend intermediately (urgently!) which I did. Climbing C5 Galaxy roared overhead less than 60 seconds later, probably farther away than it appeared. It was explained to me that he was on military freq and I was on the metro area controller freq. He never deviated and I never saw him below the nose and over an urban background. It was only when I pushed over to descend that I saw him. Like a whale swimming over a guppy.....

 

Sounds like the Viper was on a low-level and the Cessna was just VFRing around.

A similar accident happened years ago in Washington state where an A-6 hit a 150 on a VR route (1355 as I recall). I knew the A-6 guy. Both 'Truder guys got out okay. Notsomuch for the Cessna dude.

 

Interesting comment from the NTSB. Will see what the ATC tapes say, given the F-16 was supposedly talking with them at the time. Of course with the C-150 apparently just climbing out ATC may not have had them on radar yet, or not long enough to correlate flight paths and give avoidance vectors to the F-16.

 

..and vice versa....RIP.

it would be like a train hitting a moped I would think, given the difference in closing speed.

I read he was on IFR, the jet.

 

If the F-16 had a normal transponder then TAS would see it given line of sight. I have an Avidyne TAS610 unit and can pick up traffic while sitting on the ground.

Not sure how the future and the ADS-B mandate will help this issue, besides grounding a lot of aircraft. Expect there will be exempted areas just like there are for transponders currently.

 

It always amazes me how some people don't use flight following. Why not use every tool available at your disposal to make a safe flight. I know some people are uncomfortable talking to ATC due to their proficiency, which to me means they shouldn't be flying at all. I NEVER fly unless on an IFR flight plan or flight following. I don't know if they were outside of radar range or not, so this comment isn't directed at the deceased, just a public service announcement.

 

^short, sightseeing flight in circles; in an area where they don't want to provide FF; in an area where a training frequency is used.

 

Military aircraft are equipped with both VHF and UHF radios. Some military installations have UHF only frequencies... which unfortunately cannot be heard on civilian airplanes as they dont have UHF comms...

I always make it a point to use VHF as much as possible for this exact reason... it helps build SA for any civilian traffic that might be around us. Sometimes controllers will give me UHF freqs and I request the VHF frequency. It works both ways too... I like to be able to hear all the traffic and build a picture of whats going on around me... especially in the terminal environment.

 

Absolutely agree!

My Air Force Base is situated about 10 miles from a big VFR corridor serving several uncontrolled fields with tons of GA traffic. Its amazing how many bug smashers fly up and down the corridor seemingly unaware of the huge amounts of heavy military traffic operating right in their airspace.

While they are legally completely in the right to squawk 1200 and fly VFR with zero ATC comms it just seems plain stupid. Ignorance is bliss I supppose...