Helicopter pilot describes a near midair collision with a high wing aircraft at 1;000 ft AGL as the ...

Narrative:

While in cruise flight on the return leg from medical center hospital; I noticed the shadow of a fixed wing aircraft out the right side of the helicopter at approximately the 2 O'clock position. The shadow was defined and large enough to concern me that this airplane was very close. I let the crew know in a concerned tone of voice that I could see an airplane shadow and asked them to help me locate it. At this time I was approximately 1;000 ft AGL and held my heading and course due to the fact I did not know where the plane was. I watched the shadow out the right door continue to head in a west heading as we were southbound. The paramedic in the left seat announced that he spotted the plane at the 11 O'clock position above us but immediately lost it. At this time the shadow started a left turn and was tracking in the same direction of our heading before the nurse in the right seat announced it was at 3 O'clock low and was turning and flying below us. Both crew members were able to keep a visual on it as it flew directly under us then continued to the east. The medevac crew continued to track it until it was out of site. As we continued to home base we discussed the chain of events and the factors that contributed to this being a confusing situation. My initial thought was that the position of the sun made it hard to see the plane in the first place and the fact that I was using the center post as a sun block also created a blind spot. When I saw the planes shadow it appeared to be straight and level but none of us knew where it was except for the fact it was very close due to the size and definition of its shadow. The plane was spotted above us and then lost. The shadow then changed direction and the plane was spotted again flying below us; creating even more confusion and concern. We all agreed that the pilot of this small high wing plane most likely never saw us and was in the start of a descending left hand turn as it passed over the top of us at no more than 100 ft and the flew underneath of us at approximately 300 ft below us.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Helicopter pilot describes a NMAC with a high wing aircraft at 1;000 FT AGL as the helicopter pilot is returning to base. The aircraft is first detected by its shadow in close proximity to the helicopter shadow.

Narrative: While in cruise flight on the return leg from Medical Center Hospital; I noticed the shadow of a fixed wing aircraft out the right side of the helicopter at approximately the 2 O'clock position. The shadow was defined and large enough to concern me that this airplane was very close. I let the crew know in a concerned tone of voice that I could see an airplane shadow and asked them to help me locate it. At this time I was approximately 1;000 FT AGL and held my heading and course due to the fact I did not know where the plane was. I watched the shadow out the right door continue to head in a west heading as we were southbound. The paramedic in the left seat announced that he spotted the plane at the 11 O'clock position above us but immediately lost it. At this time the shadow started a left turn and was tracking in the same direction of our heading before the nurse in the right seat announced it was at 3 O'clock low and was turning and flying below us. Both crew members were able to keep a visual on it as it flew directly under us then continued to the east. The medevac crew continued to track it until it was out of site. As we continued to home base we discussed the chain of events and the factors that contributed to this being a confusing situation. My initial thought was that the position of the sun made it hard to see the plane in the first place and the fact that I was using the center post as a sun block also created a blind spot. When I saw the planes shadow it appeared to be straight and level but none of us knew where it was except for the fact it was very close due to the size and definition of its shadow. The plane was spotted above us and then lost. The shadow then changed direction and the plane was spotted again flying below us; creating even more confusion and concern. We all agreed that the pilot of this small high wing plane most likely never saw us and was in the start of a descending left hand turn as it passed over the top of us at no more than 100 FT and the flew underneath of us at approximately 300 FT below us.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1137602
Time
Date	201312
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Bell Helicopter Textron Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	VFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft High Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 3700 Flight Crew Type 1200
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 100 Vertical 100

Helicopter pilot describes a near midair collision with a high wing aircraft at 1;000 ft AGL as the helicopter pilot is returning to base. The aircraft is first detected by its shadow in close proximity to the helicopter shadow.