Report of near midair collision due to controller not issuing traffic because he was looking at the ...

Attributes
ACN	1181401
Time
Date	201406
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	BGM.Airport
State Reference	NY
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft Low Wing 1 Eng Retractable Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	VFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft Low Wing 1 Eng Retractable Gear
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2.5
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 6.9 Flight Crew Total 722 Flight Crew Type 448
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 300 Vertical 50

Narrative:

Aircraft X departed bgm and requested vectors for a VOR-a approach into czg airport. Aircraft Y departed czg and requested VFR flight following to B16. I assigned aircraft X and heading of 250 for his base leg to the final approach course. I noticed aircraft Y a half mile west of the final approach course and I told him to turn left heading of 270. I reviewed the approach plate and then looked up and saw aircraft X 3/4 of a mile east of the approach course and began to initiate his approach clearance. I was using degree divergence and thought I would have enough room to follow through with the approach but once I realized the proximity of the aircraft I no longer had time to issue a safety alert. When aircraft X was reading back the approach clearance he said on frequency 'watch out!' aircraft X began to question me about the traffic and was very upset with the closeness to the other aircraft. Aircraft Y advised me he had aircraft X in sight and requested to proceed on course which I approved. Aircraft X reported the aircraft was a half mile in front of him of his nose while he was in the turn. This event developed mainly to my lack of attention to the closure rate of these aircraft. Also I distracted myself by reviewing the approach plate when that time should have been spent watching the scope.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Report of NMAC due to Controller not issuing traffic because he was looking at the approach plate.

Narrative: Aircraft X departed BGM and requested vectors for a VOR-A approach into CZG airport. Aircraft Y Departed CZG and requested VFR flight following to B16. I assigned Aircraft X and heading of 250 for his base leg to the final approach course. I noticed Aircraft Y a half mile west of the final approach course and I told him to turn left heading of 270. I reviewed the approach plate and then looked up and saw Aircraft X 3/4 of a mile east of the approach course and began to initiate his approach clearance. I was using degree divergence and thought I would have enough room to follow through with the approach but once I realized the proximity of the aircraft I no longer had time to issue a safety alert. When Aircraft X was reading back the approach clearance he said on frequency 'watch out!' Aircraft X began to question me about the traffic and was very upset with the closeness to the other aircraft. Aircraft Y advised me he had Aircraft X in sight and requested to proceed on course which I approved. Aircraft X reported the aircraft was a half mile in front of him of his nose while he was in the turn. This event developed mainly to my lack of attention to the closure rate of these aircraft. Also I distracted myself by reviewing the approach plate when that time should have been spent watching the scope.

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.

Report of near midair collision due to controller not issuing traffic because he was looking at the approach plate.