Narrative:

Doing a VOR practice approach in VFR conditions to maintain proficiency; lead pilot with a view limiting device and the reporting pilot acting as safety in the right seat. Just before crossing the FAF; approach hands us off to tower. Tower clears us to continue the approach and then enter left downwind to land and [lead] pilot acknowledges. I double check with [lead] pilot over intercom that our intention is a missed approach and he indicates he will correct when there is a break in comms. Airport environment busier than average and we get a call for departing traffic crossing below us as we continue the descent; to which [lead] pilot responds 'looking'. I inform the [lead] pilot (not the tower) that I have the traffic in sight; a helicopter following the freeway to the south. I hear tower give a traffic advisory to the helicopter about an oncoming aircraft approaching from above (don't remember specifically; let's call it a cirrus). I am looking for the cirrus; but unable to see it. After the cirrus passes over the helicopter; tower tells them to follow us in left downwind pattern and cirrus acknowledges we are in sight. Tower busy with other aircraft as well. Roughly three minutes after crossing the FAF we are at target altitude at the map; still 500 feet above pattern; and [lead] pilot begins missed approach. This would also have been the point we would have made a 30 degrees turn to descend into the pattern. I inform the [lead] pilot that we still have not radioed tower [our] intention to enter missed. Pilot continues to turn towards the missed heading when I finally catch sight of the close cirrus approaching from the right; I take controls briefly to level wings so we don't turn closer to the approaching cirrus before allowing [lead] pilot to resume. Tower then asks what's going on; [lead] pilot informs performing the missed approach; tower chastises [lead] pilot for failing to inform intentions and creating a dangerous situation. I don't think the situation was dangerous; given both planes had sight of each other and avoidance was straightforward.takeaways: 1) I should have been more forceful about having the [lead] pilot correct intentions to the tower.2) the cirrus told to follow us into the pattern should have given more space.3) at the missed approach point; I should have insisted we continue to fly the clearance tower had given (enter left downwind) instead of the missed approach; until we could have had a chance to radio a request.I was focusing too much on what I thought my job was: making sure we did not fly into any airplanes or terrain; being eyes. [However]; I should have also been helping offload the [lead] pilot workload more and insisting rules were followed.contributing factors were the unusually busy workload the tower was experiencing and subsequent duty cycle of the radio making it hard to get a call through.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: GA safety pilot reported an airborne conflict and a clearance deviation during a missed approach.

Narrative: Doing a VOR practice approach in VFR conditions to maintain proficiency; Lead Pilot with a view limiting device and the Reporting Pilot acting as safety in the right seat. Just before crossing the FAF; Approach hands us off to Tower. Tower clears us to continue the approach and then enter left downwind to land and [Lead] Pilot acknowledges. I double check with [Lead] Pilot over intercom that our intention is a missed approach and he indicates he will correct when there is a break in comms. Airport environment busier than average and we get a call for departing traffic crossing below us as we continue the descent; to which [Lead] Pilot responds 'looking'. I inform the [Lead] Pilot (not the Tower) that I have the traffic in sight; a helicopter following the freeway to the south. I hear Tower give a traffic advisory to the helicopter about an oncoming aircraft approaching from above (don't remember specifically; let's call it a Cirrus). I am looking for the Cirrus; but unable to see it. After the Cirrus passes over the helicopter; Tower tells them to follow us in left downwind pattern and Cirrus acknowledges we are in sight. Tower busy with other aircraft as well. Roughly three minutes after crossing the FAF we are at target altitude at the MAP; still 500 feet above pattern; and [Lead] Pilot begins missed approach. This would also have been the point we would have made a 30 degrees turn to descend into the pattern. I inform the [Lead] Pilot that we still have not radioed Tower [our] intention to enter missed. Pilot continues to turn towards the missed heading when I finally catch sight of the close Cirrus approaching from the right; I take controls briefly to level wings so we don't turn closer to the approaching Cirrus before allowing [Lead] Pilot to resume. Tower then asks what's going on; [Lead] Pilot informs performing the missed approach; Tower chastises [Lead] Pilot for failing to inform intentions and creating a dangerous situation. I don't think the situation was dangerous; given both planes had sight of each other and avoidance was straightforward.Takeaways: 1) I should have been more forceful about having the [Lead] Pilot correct intentions to the Tower.2) The Cirrus told to follow us into the pattern should have given more space.3) At the missed approach point; I should have insisted we continue to fly the clearance Tower had given (enter left downwind) instead of the missed approach; until we could have had a chance to radio a request.I was focusing too much on what I thought my job was: making sure we did not fly into any airplanes or terrain; being eyes. [However]; I should have also been helping offload the [Lead] Pilot workload more and insisting rules were followed.Contributing factors were the unusually busy workload the Tower was experiencing and subsequent duty cycle of the radio making it hard to get a call through.

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.