Another time I was demonstrating a T tailed Piper Lance that I had taken in on trade for a 231 Mooney back in the '90's. We were at the then called Redbird Airport (Now Dallas Executive). There was a lady tower controller that was in training that day. She cleared us for takeoff and off we went. I remember that in the back of my mind she clearing a Beech Dutchess for the option just after our departure. The next thing I knew, we were looking at the greasy belly of the twin slowly, very slowly passing us by out the upper right hand corner of the windshield; rivet by rivet, Goodyear tires and all. Knowing that high T tail was sticking way up there, I figured not to descend or turn. I had to just sit there awaiting for the sound of metal scraping, a sound that we were fortunate not to hear, but it was THAT CLOSE! After the threat had subsided, I gave that tower controller such a what for, I understand she gave up her training as a result. GOOD! Her supervisor came on the line and asked if I wanted to fill out a report, but I simply elected to say to her: ")#&*$&$)^*^)_$_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Clearing a higher performance twin for the option just behind a departing single was nothing short of stupid, but try to argue that once you are DEAD!

And Then there was the time this V tail Bonanza was circling over the Bulverde Airpark so I raised him on the radio to see if he needed help. He told me that one of his gear lights wasn't illuminating so I asked him if he wanted me to fly up and take a look. "Oh yes, please", so I obliged by jumping in my 201 and took right off. I told him on the radio that I would fly directly below him to see if all gears are down and locked and asked him if he was capable of keeping the plane rock steady and he affirmed that; so I crept under him as close as I could to see if the lock arms were straight on all 3. The next thing I knew was that he dive bombed toward me! BOZO! I pushed the stick forward so far that I was very near the ground by the time I recovered from the dive. I asked him why he had done that and he had no explanation but thanked me for checking his gear (which turned out okay). I have always thought that if I buy the farm while flying, it would be due to some other person's mess-up like a controller, but don't get me started on that..

In more recent times I was in the pattern at the San Marcos, Tx Airport (HYI) doing everything I should on the radio and flying the pattern correctly. I was turning base to final on a cross runway as I farsightedly noticed a Cessna 310's belly in what seemed to be a violent maneuver to escape my presence. It turned out to be an instructor and his student owner of the 310 shooting a practice ILS approach to runway 12 at HYI, and neither of them were on the radio announcing their intentions, a NECESSARY function to everyone's safety at uncontrolled airports. They finally came on the air and apologized for their error. Hey, I'm one of the most forgiving people I know, but at a time like that I can get a bit harsh I suppose and I simply asked that instructor if he felt he deserved his CFII by setting such a poor example for one of his students by neglecting such an important duty as communication in the pattern of a reasonbly busy airport. Reply was "yessir, sorry". Nice kid, but almost a dead one!

Some years back here in San Antonio, an instructor and student in a Cessna 172 we practicing engine out techniques and were set up to a pretend landing on highway 1604 on the south side of town when all of a sudden a T-38 took off out of a Kelly AFB reliever strip took a left turn and went right through the engine compartment of the 172. The T-38 guys successfully punched out and AMAZINGLY the 172 occupant's somehow landed the plane on 1604 and survived!!! With no engine, literally, by the Grace of God having full flaps deployed somehow gave them enough forward CG to have some control over the aircraft!

Then there are the countless ultra lights and kick around puddle jumpers in the sky without working radios landing on the wrong runways and basically not paying any attention, but with all of that do you know which "near misses" scare me the most? THE ONE'S I DON'T SEE AND NEVER KNEW ABOUT!!!!!! I can only wonder how many close encounters I have had and will never know about. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Midair's are not among the most prevalent causes of aviation disasters, but there are enough of them to voice genuine concern and give of our attention. You may recall years ago in LA that a Piper Archer took the tail off of one of PSA's airliners. Pretty scary stuff!

In my business I fly with so many pilots on a regular basis that I am able to form the opinion that aviation is in general inherently safe because so many pilots fly with a nonchalant attitude about them whereby practicing safeguards such as scanning the sky for traffic, using flight following, flying proper altitudes for direction of flight, etc. are not part of their piloting practices. With today's advent of MOVING MAPS AND MFD'S taking the pilot's attention away from sky scanning, the situation can only get worse before it gets better. I have had mode S installed for some of my customers along with their radio upgrades and that is a big help because it works! However to be practical, most planes I fly do not have that capability. While we don't even think twice of paying over a grand for a cool handheld GPS or ANR headset, few people spend any money on even the portable type TCAS's such as that provided by Monroy and other manufactures. They work and they help, but nothing beats the plain old fashion practice of "SEE AND AVOID". In order to do that, one has to learn how to scan that big old sky. Just looking up and looking around is not enough! It is a very big sky and on a sunny clear day that we all enjoy flying, the threat is at its greatest as we are not the only ones wanting to enjoy flight on that kind of day and because the sky is infinite and without definition, it becomes very difficult to "SEE AND AVOID" unless the use of proper scanning techniques is part of your flying ritual. Planes are getting faster with time, so don't expect to see and avoid simply by chance. You must pick a portion of sky and fixate on that quadrant focusing in and out which increases your chances of seeing an object that may be on a collision course. When flying, I almost exclusively use flight following for each flight which helps, but they don't see it all either and at times are busy with some other plane or function, and at times another plane in your vicinity simply does not show up on his radar for what ever reason.

The most important thing of this article is that I have brought to your attention something that seems unimportant to many pilots, or at least they rarely think of the possibility. Remember that the proper use of your radio is yet another set of "eyes" in the sky, and be hopeful that the other guy is doing the same thing in the pattern at uncontrolled airports, and even controlled ones for that matter. Keep your eyes and ears open at all times while airborne!

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IF NOT FOR YOURSELF, YOU OWE IT TO YOUR PASSENGERS AND FAMILY TO BE ALL YOU CAN BE AS A PILOT. NON PILOT TYPES THINK THEY ARE SAFE SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU CAN GREASE A PLANE ON THE RUNWAY. NOT SO! LANDING IS ONLY ONE OF MANY ASPECTS OF SAFE FLIGHT. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BEING A PILOT IS GREAT AND A PRIVILEGE FOR AN ELITE FEW THAT SHOULD NEVER BE TAKEN LIGHTLY.

Fly, fly, fly! But above all;  FLY SAFE!

zef