Cessna captain reports an airborne conflict with a PA34 at 7;700 ft during climb to 9;000 ft. The tr...

Narrative:

I was IFR with broken clouds broken at 13;000 MSL; visibility was not unrestricted but still VFR maybe 20 miles. I was initially cleared to 7;000 after a short level off approach cleared me to continue my climb to my filed altitude of 9;000 after I started the climb at 500 ft/min they notified me of traffic at 2 O'clock 8;000 ft as I looked a piper seneca (maybe a seminole) passed us from under my front cowling from about the 12:30 position at a 30 degree angle with my nose and under my left wing. It was close enough the profile of the aircraft fit between the nose and the spinner of my left engine. When this happened I was at about 7;700 ft about 35 miles out from bil talking to approach. I notified approach and they asked if I saw him on TCAS. I informed him I did not have traffic in the aircraft. They notified me he was maneuvering VFR and they were not taking to him. I'm not sure what I could have done I did not take any evasive action because I saw him only as he passed from under my nose right to left and then was behind me. If I was unsure of his position relative to mine I could have sought vectors around him; however the time between them calling traffic and it passing under me was probably less than a minute.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna Captain reports an airborne conflict with a PA34 at 7;700 FT during climb to 9;000 FT. The traffic was pointed out by ATC but not sighted until it was too late to maneuver.

Narrative: I was IFR with broken clouds broken at 13;000 MSL; visibility was not unrestricted but still VFR maybe 20 miles. I was initially cleared to 7;000 after a short level off approach cleared me to continue my climb to my filed altitude of 9;000 after I started the climb at 500 FT/min they notified me of traffic at 2 O'clock 8;000 FT as I looked a Piper Seneca (maybe a Seminole) passed us from under my front cowling from about the 12:30 position at a 30 degree angle with my nose and under my left wing. It was close enough the profile of the aircraft fit between the nose and the spinner of my left engine. When this happened I was at about 7;700 FT about 35 miles out from BIL talking to Approach. I notified Approach and they asked if I saw him on TCAS. I informed him I did not have traffic in the aircraft. They notified me he was maneuvering VFR and they were not taking to him. I'm not sure what I could have done I did not take any evasive action because I saw him only as he passed from under my nose right to left and then was behind me. If I was unsure of his position relative to mine I could have sought vectors around him; however the time between them calling traffic and it passing under me was probably less than a minute.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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	1165595
Time
Date	201404
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	BIL.Airport
State Reference	MT
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna Aircraft Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Climb
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	PA-34-200T Turbo Seneca II
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Airborne Conflict

Cessna captain reports an airborne conflict with a PA34 at 7;700 ft during climb to 9;000 ft. The traffic was pointed out by ATC but not sighted until it was too late to maneuver.