Narrative:

We were in level flight outbound to setup for a practice instrument approach; using a stratus portable ads-B in receiver; but in a plane not equipped with ads-B out (and not receiving any ads-B traffic alerts at the time; due to no other ads-B planes reporting); when a red alert suddenly flashed on the ipad showing traffic 200 feet below us at 12:00 and nearby (I did not see or remember the exact distance). The other pilot was flying; but I took control and immediately executed a climbing right turn; while the other pilot removed his foggles. Neither of us could see any traffic. A few seconds later we spotted a high wing plane; now nearby off to the left and climbing through our altitude. The plane had previously been obscured from view under our plane; and; as the other plane was a high wing approaching at a moderate quartering angle; we very well may have been out of sight of its pilots. We were monitoring the fft airport frequency and actively reporting our position but never heard any position reports from the other plane. This all occurred from just a few miles west of the lexington class C airspace and it appears the other plane may have been coming from the general direction of perhaps a flight from under the lexington outer class C shelf. I believe without the warning there might have been a very high risk of a collision.we were flying a plane owned by a flying club that has chosen not yet to equip its fleet with ads-B out technology; while the technology matures; costs come down and or transponder maintenance needs make it prudent. The club is located at a class C airport and will ultimately need to equip; assuming the regulation is not changed or delayed. I believe the FAA's current policy of only broadcasting traffic to participating ads-B out planes is unnecessarily risking lives and is doing very little to encourage voluntary participation on an issue that is ultimately going to take care of itself anyway when planes have to equip to fly in controlled airspace. At least 3 pilots and unknown other passengers and people on the ground could have been killed last night in a completely preventable accident as a result of this overreaching FAA policy.I do not know how we received the one and only alert we did receive; as this plane was never visible ads-B traffic to us before or after the one brief few second long warning. I don't know if there is something ATC (with whom we were not in contact) was perhaps able to spot and somehow cause something to happen to make our positions broadcast; divine providence or both. I thank god; however; that the warning occurred.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DA40 safety observer pilot reported a NMAC while pilot flying was setting up for a practice instrument approach.

Narrative: We were in level flight outbound to setup for a practice instrument approach; using a Stratus portable ADS-B in receiver; but in a plane not equipped with ADS-B out (and not receiving any ADS-B traffic alerts at the time; due to no other ADS-B planes reporting); when a red alert suddenly flashed on the iPad showing traffic 200 feet below us at 12:00 and nearby (I did not see or remember the exact distance). The other pilot was flying; but I took control and immediately executed a climbing right turn; while the other pilot removed his foggles. Neither of us could see any traffic. A few seconds later we spotted a high wing plane; now nearby off to the left and climbing through our altitude. The plane had previously been obscured from view under our plane; and; as the other plane was a high wing approaching at a moderate quartering angle; we very well may have been out of sight of its pilots. We were monitoring the FFT airport frequency and actively reporting our position but never heard any position reports from the other plane. This all occurred from just a few miles west of the Lexington class C airspace and it appears the other plane may have been coming from the general direction of perhaps a flight from under the Lexington outer class C shelf. I believe without the warning there might have been a very high risk of a collision.We were flying a plane owned by a Flying Club that has chosen not yet to equip its fleet with ADS-B out technology; while the technology matures; costs come down and or transponder maintenance needs make it prudent. The club is located at a Class C airport and will ultimately need to equip; assuming the regulation is not changed or delayed. I believe the FAA's current policy of only broadcasting traffic to participating ADS-B out planes is unnecessarily risking lives and is doing very little to encourage voluntary participation on an issue that is ultimately going to take care of itself anyway when planes have to equip to fly in controlled airspace. At least 3 pilots and unknown other passengers and people on the ground could have been killed last night in a completely preventable accident as a result of this overreaching FAA policy.I do not know how we received the one and only alert we did receive; as this plane was never visible ADS-B traffic to us before or after the one brief few second long warning. I don't know if there is something ATC (with whom we were not in contact) was perhaps able to spot and somehow cause something to happen to make our positions broadcast; divine providence or both. I thank God; however; that the warning occurred.

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.