A flight instructor and student maneuvering at 1;500 ft reported taking evasive action from an ultra...

Attributes
ACN	1012089
Time
Date	201205
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	TPA.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft High Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Ultralight
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Instructor Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 3100 Flight Crew Type 2000
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 300 Vertical 0

Narrative:

While training a student in steep turns at 1;500 ft MSL and below a class B shelf of 3;000 ft MSL; we were approached by an ultralight aircraft headed directly for us. We turned to avoid him and he also turned toward us. We came with 300 ft horizontally of him and at the same altitude. We climbed away from him to the south to evade his flight path. This caused us to stray into a lower class B shelf that began at 1;200 ft MSL. As soon as we realized this; we reduced power to idle and descended rapidly as we turned back north to exit the airspace and reduce altitude at the same time. A northerly wind contributed to the speed with which we deviated into the class B airspace. The problem was caused by fixating on avoiding this ultralight aircraft and we lost positional awareness. We should have assigned one person to fly and the other to track traffic; instead of both of us trying to watch the traffic maneuvering wildly; and loose positional awareness. In the future; I as the instructor will fly the plane and have the student track the traffic.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A flight instructor and student maneuvering at 1;500 FT reported taking evasive action from an ultralight and so entered TPA Class B at 1;200 FT during the avoidance maneuver.

Narrative: While training a student in steep turns at 1;500 FT MSL and below a Class B shelf of 3;000 FT MSL; we were approached by an ultralight aircraft headed directly for us. We turned to avoid him and he also turned toward us. We came with 300 FT horizontally of him and at the same altitude. We climbed away from him to the south to evade his flight path. This caused us to stray into a lower Class B shelf that began at 1;200 FT MSL. As soon as we realized this; we reduced power to idle and descended rapidly as we turned back north to exit the airspace and reduce altitude at the same time. A northerly wind contributed to the speed with which we deviated into the Class B airspace. The problem was caused by fixating on avoiding this ultralight aircraft and we lost positional awareness. We should have assigned one person to fly and the other to track traffic; instead of both of us trying to watch the traffic maneuvering wildly; and loose positional awareness. In the future; I as the instructor will fly the plane and have the student track the traffic.

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.

A flight instructor and student maneuvering at 1;500 ft reported taking evasive action from an ultralight and so entered tpa class B at 1;200 ft during the avoidance maneuver.