Narrative:

I was cruising at approximately 2;000 feet MSL between bcv and mri via a pretty narrow corridor between 3;000-4;000 feet mountains to my left and restricted airspace to my right. I was still on the bcv CTAF because I previously had announced my intentions to overfly the airfield at 2;000 feet which is well above pattern altitude for that airfield. After reporting my position twice; once within approximately 9 NM northwest of the field and again over the field; I continued due south toward anchorage and began adjusting my GPS to ensure I was staying well clear of the restricted airspace west of me. As I was doing so; I looked back outside while performing my visual scan and noticed a single engine high-wing plane similar to mine at my 10 or 11 o'clock position heading north; opposite my direction of travel with our courses offset by an estimated 300-500 feet. With our aircraft; by my estimate; within 500 feet of each other at the time I noticed the other aircraft; I immediately altered my course to the right and I noticed the other pilot had started to do the same by the time I noticed the plane and could react. I only had the other plane in sight for a few seconds before it passed by me on my left. I concluded my flight as planned a few minutes later with no further incidents.I heard nothing from the aircraft on the CTAF frequency; possibly because the area is near a dividing line between ctafs; and the close proximity to the various class D and class C airspace in the anchorage area could have meant the pilot was on a different frequency. This area has unique dangers due to aircraft being required to fly within a narrow corridor just a few nautical miles wide; near very busy airspace with high volumes of GA; commercial; and military aircraft. I believe this event was caused partially because while I was adjusting my avionics; even for a short time; I had to look inside the plane; hindering my visual scan outside. This situation can be prevented in the future by pilots being careful about when and where they adjust radios/avionics and by being more intentional in their visual scans; especially in areas where many planes are crowded by terrain and airspace. Additionally; radio communication on the correct CTAF at appropriate distances can give pilots in the area an idea of where to look for traffic.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 Pilot reported a NMAC in the vicinity of BCV airport.

Narrative: I was cruising at approximately 2;000 feet MSL between BCV and MRI via a pretty narrow corridor between 3;000-4;000 feet mountains to my left and restricted airspace to my right. I was still on the BCV CTAF because I previously had announced my intentions to overfly the airfield at 2;000 feet which is well above pattern altitude for that airfield. After reporting my position twice; once within approximately 9 NM northwest of the field and again over the field; I continued due south toward Anchorage and began adjusting my GPS to ensure I was staying well clear of the restricted airspace west of me. As I was doing so; I looked back outside while performing my visual scan and noticed a single engine high-wing plane similar to mine at my 10 or 11 o'clock position heading north; opposite my direction of travel with our courses offset by an estimated 300-500 feet. With our aircraft; by my estimate; within 500 feet of each other at the time I noticed the other aircraft; I immediately altered my course to the right and I noticed the other pilot had started to do the same by the time I noticed the plane and could react. I only had the other plane in sight for a few seconds before it passed by me on my left. I concluded my flight as planned a few minutes later with no further incidents.I heard nothing from the aircraft on the CTAF frequency; possibly because the area is near a dividing line between CTAFs; and the close proximity to the various Class D and Class C airspace in the Anchorage area could have meant the pilot was on a different frequency. This area has unique dangers due to aircraft being required to fly within a narrow corridor just a few nautical miles wide; near very busy airspace with high volumes of GA; commercial; and military aircraft. I believe this event was caused partially because while I was adjusting my avionics; even for a short time; I had to look inside the plane; hindering my visual scan outside. This situation can be prevented in the future by pilots being careful about when and where they adjust radios/avionics and by being more intentional in their visual scans; especially in areas where many planes are crowded by terrain and airspace. Additionally; radio communication on the correct CTAF at appropriate distances can give pilots in the area an idea of where to look for traffic.

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.