When more than one aircraft is in the sky, the possibility for a mid-air exists. During my time as a tour pilot in NYC I had plenty of close-calls.
I remember when the NYPD helicopter and the floatplane collided over the East River near the Wall Street Heliport. But I also remember only two other mid-airs that occured - both within (what we used to call) the aiport traffic area of Teterboro, coincidentally enough. One was between a f/w twin and a Bell 206 with *two* pilots onboard! If mid-airs can happen around airports with working control towers, can we even hope to prevent all of them in "uncontrolled" areas?
During my 13 years in the GOM for PHI, I had some close-calls too. In fact, early in my career with the company we were averaging one mid-air per year. Some happened near airports or at the beach-in/beach-out points, but some happened out in the Gulf proper.
One day in 1998 my friend Andy was flying his speed-hobbled (at the time) 407, just cruising along fat, dumb, and happy when he heard a wierd noise. Looking around, specifically over his right shoulder, he was horrified to see a Twinstar bearing down on him. He banked hard left, but it was too late. The Twinstar's rotor cut off Andy's tailboom and the nose of his ship. If he hadn't immediately gone into a crouch position his feet would have left with the tail rotor pedals. Somehow...unbelievably, he got the throttle off and autorotated down. He lived. Sadly, the Twinstar pilot did not.
In another, more fortunate incident, my friend Greg was flying along in his 206B, fat dumb and happy when he got a strange feeling. Nothing seemed wrong in the ship, but when he looked over his left shoulder and around the broom closet, he was horrified to see another 206 (a faster L-model) overtaking him on a direct collision course, so close that Greg could see the pilot's head down (playing with the loran or gps?). Greg hauled aft on the cyclic and...somehow...avoided a collision. We're still scratching our heads over that one.
Bullets over a battlefield.
Sure, the Hudson River exclusion is crowded. Pilots who elect to fly in it must exercise proper diligence...okay, "extra" diligence. But that applies to all of us too, no matter where we fly.
I love my Zaon aftermarket TCAD. Even when I'm on the ground, as long as aircraft in the traffic pattern are being painted by radar, I'll see the replies from their transponders, displayed right on the screen of my Garmin 496, which is mounted up on top of the glare shield, where it should be. Foolproof? No. But it's a heck of a great tool.
Last edited by FH1100 Pilot; 14th Aug 2009 at 23:47.