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Aviation => Aviation Accidents/Incidents => Topic started by: NoobWannaBe on September 09, 2021, 07:54:03 PM

Title: Did I see a near miss?
Post by: NoobWannaBe on September 09, 2021, 07:54:03 PM
I'm 60. I was taking pilot lessons in college, but didn't stick with it.  Now I know that's just as well.  I have enough issues dealing with 2 dimensions! : )

Anyway. this afternoon coming out of a store, I looked out in the not so distance (I was 1 1/3 mile from start of runway)  and saw a prop plane on final approach to Morristown Municipal Airport KMMU in NJ.

and between him and me was a helicopter, that seemed to be veering away sharply from the prop plane's path...  Then a minute or so? later, I looked up again and see a helicopter in the distance, coming in to the runway (not sure if it was the same helicopter). 

Kinda seemed like the helicopter was taking a shortcut to get to the start of the runway, either because he didn't see the prop plane or thought he could get in front of it?  But then veered off when he saw it wasn't going to work.

I know about ADS-B feeding and seeing a plane's previous path.

Is there a way to see at a specific time (5:13PM today, 9-9-21) what was going on in a specific airspace?

Is there a way to hear the ATC feeds at that time for KMMU?

If you saw an incident / near miss, is there anything you can / should do to report it?  Or the pilots / ATC know about it already?

Thanks!
Title: Re: Did I see a near miss?
Post by: NoobWannaBe on September 09, 2021, 07:58:18 PM
I just looked at

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airports/mmu/arrivals

and don't see any arrivals at around 5:15PM today.  does every plane & helicopter landing at the airport get logged?  Only IFR?  Is there a more detailed list?
Title: Re: Did I see a near miss?
Post by: martyj19 on September 11, 2021, 06:30:03 PM
There is nothing you should report if you are on the ground watching and you perceive that something was a near miss.  KMMU is a towered airport and you say it is daytime, so the tower was open and was controlling both the helicopter and the airplane.  It would be up to the aircrews to file a report, which from your description doesn't sound like it is anywhere close to meeting the criteria to be a near miss, and even so it isn't required by regulation.  From your description it would seem the helicopter executed a go around.  There's not enough information to know how the helicopter got in that position but remember the tower is controlling it, so unless it didn't follow instructions, the tower put it there.

In general there is no record made of VFR traffic beyond whatever is on the audio tapes for any ATC that they may have talked to.  The tower does count takeoffs and landings with a clicker as part of justifying the need for a control tower.

Not every aircraft is tracked on the web radar sites.  Usually IFR traffic will be (unless the owner has requested it be blacked out) and VFR traffic is less likely to be.

This site covers KMMU tower and if you looked back in the audio archives for the tower feed and you do it within 30 days and you get the local to UTC conversion correct, you could probably find the radio traffic.
Title: Re: Did I see a near miss?
Post by: rentkonim on September 25, 2021, 08:27:24 AM
At times you could hear Radio Traffic on Guard... This is generally an aircraft calling another by request from Air Traffic Control for them to join ATC on the correct frequency. Some times you will hear a loud siren sound...That is an ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter).  This signal is used to home in on lost aircraft, boats in distress and Personal Locator Beacons by the Coast Guard and Local Emergency Management using their Search and Rescue Drones and aircraft.