Narrative:

About forty miles out [from sez] I started to monitor CTAF and heard various aircraft coming and going from the airport. Because of the wind; aircraft were using runway 21. At 10 miles out I made my first position announcement; at 5 miles out I made my second position announcement; at which time the only other aircraft announcing on the CTAF landed at sedona. I then made an announcement at mid-field downwind; again turning base and my last call turning final. During this time; no other aircraft were announcing on the CTAF. As I completed my turn to final and was just beginning my final descent; I caught something in my peripheral vision at my 3 o'clock. It took a second for me to process that something was actually at my 3 o'clock as I had just cleared that area visually on my turn from base to final. As I glanced back out the window at my 3 o'clock; I see a commercial sightseeing helicopter now paralleling my flight path at 100 to 150 lateral feet away from me and at my altitude. I would estimated that I was at least 800 ft AGL and on a 3/4 mile final when I encountered the helicopter. What a sightseeing helicopter is doing in the final approach path of fixed wing aircraft is beyond me; especially in light of the fact that he was landing on the northeast side of the runway. The pilot must not be familiar with 91.126 (b) (2). I also think that it is very careless that a radio equipped helicopter was not making position calls; nor was he obviously monitoring his radio for mine. I also wonder if the helicopter has an inoperative transponder or if it was simply off too; as my skywatch traffic advisory system never picked him up. It seems to me that the commercial pilot of this sightseeing helicopter was operating in a reckless and careless manner.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The pilot of light single reported an NMAC with a helicopter who allegedly was not following procedures at SEZ.

Narrative: About forty miles out [from SEZ] I started to monitor CTAF and heard various aircraft coming and going from the airport. Because of the wind; aircraft were using Runway 21. At 10 miles out I made my first position announcement; at 5 miles out I made my second position announcement; at which time the only other aircraft announcing on the CTAF landed at Sedona. I then made an announcement at mid-field downwind; again turning base and my last call turning final. During this time; no other aircraft were announcing on the CTAF. As I completed my turn to final and was just beginning my final descent; I caught something in my peripheral vision at my 3 o'clock. It took a second for me to process that something was actually at my 3 o'clock as I had just cleared that area visually on my turn from base to final. As I glanced back out the window at my 3 o'clock; I see a commercial sightseeing helicopter now paralleling my flight path at 100 to 150 lateral feet away from me and at my altitude. I would estimated that I was at least 800 FT AGL and on a 3/4 mile final when I encountered the helicopter. What a sightseeing helicopter is doing in the final approach path of fixed wing aircraft is beyond me; especially in light of the fact that he was landing on the northeast side of the runway. The pilot must not be familiar with 91.126 (b) (2). I also think that it is very careless that a radio equipped helicopter was not making position calls; nor was he obviously monitoring his radio for mine. I also wonder if the helicopter has an inoperative transponder or if it was simply off too; as my Skywatch Traffic Advisory System never picked him up. It seems to me that the commercial pilot of this sightseeing helicopter was operating in a reckless and careless manner.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.