Narrative:

Repositioning empty back to fairbanks chena marina airport; following a passenger flight from that same airport. I called fairbanks approach at 30 NM northeast at 3500 MSL. Although there were not a lot of calls at at the time; I was 25 NM northeast before I was able to give my information to fairbanks approach; and receive a transponder code. I proceeded directly to chena marina airport in the absence of any other instructions and descended to an altitude of 1500 ft as I approached the fairbanks international airport. I received no traffic advisories anywhere in the vicinity of the fairbanks airport from the approach controller. At approximately 1 mile northeast of the fairbanks international airport (pafa/fai); I received instructions to contact fairbanks tower; which I promptly did. Immediately afterward; I noted that I was on a 45 degree converging collision course with a helio courier at my same altitude; which had just taken off from fairbanks international airport 2R; although I don't know if it was from the paved strip or gravel ski strip. He would have been on a course of approximately 20 degrees; and I was flying a course of approximately 230 degrees. I altered my heading to the left to go behind the helio. After I turned; I received a call from a female voice tower controller advising me of the traffic; and of a second aircraft flying away from me toward the west; which I could see was no factor. I did not see the other aircraft take any evasive action; although subsequently; the helio pilot called in and asked for the north number of the cherokee that 'just about hit me.' a male voice tower controller asked the helio pilot to call the tower upon his return; and he would have that information for him. The helio pilot said that would be in about two hours. The landing at chena marina was uneventful. I am thankful that I was scanning for aircraft and that I was able to see the other aircraft in adequate time. This was a case of ideal weather conditions; and a low wing aircraft descending while the high wing aircraft was climbing; along with an additional factor of the long nose on the cherokee making forward and down visibility limited. I believe an earlier hand off from approach control to the tower could have avoided this situation; with perhaps a prompt from me. However; sometimes approach control at fairbanks does not hand off aircraft until fairly close to landing; or in cases of lower traffic; not at all; up through landing and taxi.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA32 pilot inbound to Chena Marina reports a NMAC with a Helio Courier departing FAI Runway 2R at 1500 FT. The PA32 pilot was Radar identified and talking to FAI Tower but neither pilot received a traffic advisory until evasive action had been taken by the PA32 pilot.

Narrative: Repositioning empty back to Fairbanks Chena Marina Airport; following a passenger flight from that same airport. I called Fairbanks Approach at 30 NM NE at 3500 MSL. Although there were not a lot of calls at at the time; I was 25 NM NE before I was able to give my information to Fairbanks Approach; and receive a transponder code. I proceeded directly to Chena Marina Airport in the absence of any other instructions and descended to an altitude of 1500 FT as I approached the Fairbanks International Airport. I received no traffic advisories anywhere in the vicinity of the Fairbanks airport from the approach controller. At approximately 1 mile NE of the Fairbanks International Airport (PAFA/FAI); I received instructions to contact Fairbanks Tower; which I promptly did. Immediately afterward; I noted that I was on a 45 degree converging collision course with a Helio Courier at my same altitude; which had just taken off from Fairbanks International Airport 2R; although I don't know if it was from the paved strip or gravel ski strip. He would have been on a course of approximately 20 degrees; and I was flying a course of approximately 230 degrees. I altered my heading to the left to go behind the Helio. After I turned; I received a call from a female voice tower controller advising me of the traffic; and of a second aircraft flying away from me toward the west; which I could see was no factor. I did not see the other aircraft take any evasive action; although subsequently; the Helio pilot called in and asked for the N Number of the Cherokee that 'just about hit me.' A male voice tower controller asked the Helio pilot to call the tower upon his return; and he would have that information for him. The Helio pilot said that would be in about two hours. The landing at Chena Marina was uneventful. I am thankful that I was scanning for aircraft and that I was able to see the other aircraft in adequate time. This was a case of ideal weather conditions; and a low wing aircraft descending while the high wing aircraft was climbing; along with an additional factor of the long nose on the Cherokee making forward and down visibility limited. I believe an earlier hand off from Approach Control to the tower could have avoided this situation; with perhaps a prompt from me. However; sometimes Approach Control at Fairbanks does not hand off aircraft until fairly close to landing; or in cases of lower traffic; not at all; up through landing and taxi.

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.