How high are people flying in Robinsons?

[flewthecoupe]

And for further clarification, airport elevation for the home base is 6187'MSL so flights above that into the mountains are quite frequent. Leadville, CO is the highest airport in the US and we fly to that at 9927'MSL. So there are some of the "surface elevations" we fly at.

[Goldy]

All of my close calls have been below 3,000'agl so you never know.

 

 

All of mine have been below 500 AGL...all with fixed wings. Tell me who's fault that is !

[rotorrodent]

All of mine have been below 500 AGL...all with fixed wings. Tell me who's fault that is !

 

Fault? Regardless of right a way, we should all be very diligent in collision avoidance. After risk assessment, I personally wouldn't want to bend metal just to prove I was in the right or had right of way!

 

My only near miss was when I was flying a 300C in the pattern at a "controlled" airport. The Cessna 172, never saw me as I did an evasive manuever within 100m to avoid collision. I was on base leg and they were on downwind turning into me. Tower never called the traffic to either aircraft. I clearly had right of way being ahead and below on visual approach, but I wasn't willing to prove my point. BTW I saw the 172 pilot....wasn't even looking my direction. whew!

 

my altitude at the time was about 500 agl!!

 

the comical pilot Rotorrodent

[heli.pilot]

Fault? Regardless of right a way, we should all be very diligent in collision avoidance. After risk assessment, I personally wouldn't want to bend metal just to prove I was in the right or had right of way!

 

My only near miss was when I was flying a 300C in the pattern at a "controlled" airport. The Cessna 172, never saw me as I did an evasive manuever within 100m to avoid collision. I was on base leg and they were on downwind turning into me. Tower never called the traffic to either aircraft. I clearly had right of way being ahead and below on visual approach, but I wasn't willing to prove my point. BTW I saw the 172 pilot....wasn't even looking my direction. whew!

 

my altitude at the time was about 500 agl!!

 

the comical pilot Rotorrodent

I guarantee that won't be the last time that will happen to you. Remember, if you're VFR, you're responsible for separation whether you're at a controlled airport or not.

[Justin DBC]

I guarantee that won't be the last time that will happen to you. Remember, if you're VFR, you're responsible for separation whether you're at a controlled airport or not.

 

 

I've only had a few close encounters with other traffic, but only one of them was in uncontrolled airspace (Compton... Go figure) and all were below 1200 AGL. I think it's actually more dangerous in controlled airspace because a lot of people get a false sense of security that the controler is going to keep them safe and don't keep their head on a swivel like they should... Especially when they have a clearance for a particular maneuver. Stay alert, stay alive.

 

J-

[Marc D]

"How high are people flying in Robinsons"

 

 

Do you mean, how many joints are people smoking before they fly?

 

I would not recommend flying if you are "high".

 

 

Marc D

[SquirrelFlight]

I got my fixed-wing private a long time ago for fun (interesting that when I decided it was time to switch careers away from being an IT desk jockey, I went for helicopters....) and all the close encounters you have with them will probably be because they don't see you. They probably don't know you are there. They don't really have the slightest idea what you are doing or what to expect from you.

 

I've been there, I know. The last airport I flew fixed wing out of had a fair amount of helicopter traffic on the other side of the field. I would hear the pilot talking to the tower, but only rarely did I ever see them. Some that, I think, is altitude difference - the pattern altitude for the bug-smasher fixed wings is going to be somewhere between 800 and 1000 AGL - when was the last time you flew a pattern that high? When was the last time you flew that high? ;-) A 300-500 foot elevation difference between aircraft that small means you're going to be very hard to see.

 

Someone mentioned a C172 almost running them over on a turn from downwind to base... Guess what? There's a big huge blind spot that most Cessna's have right there - down and toward the front they have a big instrument panel in the way. He probably thought he was perfectly clear.

 

Am I defending the fixed-wing guys in these cases? Not really. It is a purely a matter of ignorance. There isn't any training - at least I've never received any - about inter-category interactions. And, I've found, it case go both ways, although it'd be my guess that there are more airplane guys switching to rotorcraft than the other way around. So, watch your own ass out there, and try not to get too upset with that other jerk out there; it's likely he just doesn't know any better.

[Goldy]

Fault? Regardless of right a way, we should all be very diligent in collision avoidance. After risk assessment, I personally wouldn't want to bend metal just to prove I was in the right or had right of way!

 

Rodent- I never would do anything to prove my point. But after the collision avoidance is over, you have to think about what you did, what you could have done better, and basically...if you did anything wrong.

 

Since I last posted this a couple months ago, I encountered a Cessna at 200 AGL circling just west of the Ronald Reagan Museum in Simi Valley, Ca. Check it out on a map sometime...as far as I am concerned thats a classic "congested area" and a fixed winger has no business being there. I had to make several evasive turns and the F/W was just "flying around" or course, not monitoring .02 either.

I'm sure he never saw me.

 

Sorry, but I do have a real problem with these kind of pilots.

 

I would make a GREAT FAA enforcement officer!

 

 

Goldy