Narrative:

While climbing during departure from oma I was assigned at or below 3500 and an east heading by ATC. They did not specify 090 degrees. As I continued the climb I was given 5500 feet and direct destination. This put me on an estimated heading of 350 degrees. As I was climbing through 4700 feet I was told to turn to a heading of 020 for traffic. At approximately 5400 feet I saw the traffic at my 1 o'clock position and we were on what appeared to be a collision course. I did not know if the other aircraft had me in sight; nor did I know their intentions. I was very startled by this and feared for the outcome. I took a moment to determine what course of action I should take. I saw them pitch up; so I pitched down. At that time I was at 5700. I was full of adrenaline and did not know how this aircraft got so close without knowing. The outcome was uneventful.two items come to mind from this. First; I will take blame for overshooting my altitude by 200 feet. I was assigned at or below 5500 and during what would have been my normal level off I was trying to decide how to avoid a collision. Second; I would have appreciated knowing from ATC about the other aircraft. After the event I asked the controller what the plan was for our two flights. I learned that the other aircraft had me in sight and I was also unaware that they would be level. Unfortunately I was very full of adrenaline at that time and also stated that I was VFR and therefore it was not his job technically to keep us separated. This was very unprofessional of me to say. I regret saying it. A contributing factor to my feeling of impending collision was the fact that I was climbing to my altitude and had just finished a turn. When this other aircraft was spotted we were on a course that would have led to a collision. I believe if I had been level prior to the other aircraft being spotted I would have had more comfort as our trajectories would not have been converging.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C414 pilot reported sighting another aircraft as he was about to level off that appeared to be in conflict. The reporter was on an assigned heading and ATC had not mentioned the traffic which startled him. He momentarily allowed his aircraft to exceed 5500 feet.

Narrative: While climbing during departure from OMA I was assigned at or below 3500 and an east heading by ATC. They did not specify 090 degrees. As I continued the climb I was given 5500 feet and direct destination. This put me on an estimated heading of 350 degrees. As I was climbing through 4700 feet I was told to turn to a heading of 020 for traffic. At approximately 5400 feet I saw the traffic at my 1 o'clock position and we were on what appeared to be a collision course. I did not know if the other aircraft had me in sight; nor did I know their intentions. I was very startled by this and feared for the outcome. I took a moment to determine what course of action I should take. I saw them pitch up; so I pitched down. At that time I was at 5700. I was full of adrenaline and did not know how this aircraft got so close without knowing. The outcome was uneventful.Two items come to mind from this. First; I will take blame for overshooting my altitude by 200 feet. I was assigned at or below 5500 and during what would have been my normal level off I was trying to decide how to avoid a collision. Second; I would have appreciated knowing from ATC about the other aircraft. After the event I asked the controller what the plan was for our two flights. I learned that the other aircraft had me in sight and I was also unaware that they would be level. Unfortunately I was very full of adrenaline at that time and also stated that I was VFR and therefore it was not his job technically to keep us separated. This was very unprofessional of me to say. I regret saying it. A contributing factor to my feeling of impending collision was the fact that I was climbing to my altitude and had just finished a turn. When this other aircraft was spotted we were on a course that would have led to a collision. I believe if I had been level prior to the other aircraft being spotted I would have had more comfort as our trajectories would not have been converging.

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.