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A light transport jet pilot was not requested to report a helicopter on short final in sight and in fact did not see it doing a practice hovering autorotation until 100 ft on short final. ATC did not advise the reporter about the traffic's proximity.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 819399 |
| Time | |
| Date | 200901 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | HEF.Airport |
| State Reference | VA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Approach |
| Route In Use | Visual Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Aircraft 2 | |
| Make Model Name | Helicopter |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Approach |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 28000 Flight Crew Type 325 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
On an IFR flight into hef; potomac approach cleared us for a visual approach to runway 16L at hef and instructed us to contact tower. We reported in with tower as 5 miles south of airport on a visual to runway 16L. Tower instructions: 'enter left downwind for runway 16L; #2 following a helicopter.' we acknowledged and turned left base at the normal position for a visual approach as cleared by approach control. Tower never asked us if we saw the helicopter and we didn't see it until on short final and saw it hovering above the runway preparing for a practice autorotation to runway 16L. At approximately 100 ft AGL; the tower cleared us to land and then stated; 'next time give yourself more room.' according to the aim; the tower should have asked us if we had the other aircraft in sight and when we said 'no' should have told us to extend our downwind until his approval to turn base. We were cleared for a visual approach to runway 16L by potomac approach which is an IFR IAP when on a IFR flight plan. As the tower did not tell us to extend downwind; we assumed tower had us both in sight and believed spacing to be good. Tower should have confirmed we had traffic to follow in sight before allowing us to turn base as it is virtually impossible for a jet with a vref of 130 KTS to follow a helicopter to the same runway that is going to zero its airspeed for an autorotation.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A light transport jet pilot was not requested to report a helicopter on short final in sight and in fact did not see it doing a practice hovering autorotation until 100 ft on short final. ATC did not advise the reporter about the traffic's proximity.
Narrative: On an IFR flight into HEF; Potomac Approach cleared us for a visual approach to Runway 16L at HEF and instructed us to contact Tower. We reported in with Tower as 5 miles south of airport on a visual to Runway 16L. Tower instructions: 'enter left downwind for Runway 16L; #2 following a helicopter.' We acknowledged and turned left base at the normal position for a visual approach as cleared by Approach Control. Tower never asked us if we saw the helicopter and we didn't see it until on short final and saw it hovering above the runway preparing for a practice autorotation to Runway 16L. At approximately 100 FT AGL; the Tower cleared us to land and then stated; 'next time give yourself more room.' According to the AIM; the Tower should have asked us if we had the other aircraft in sight and when we said 'no' should have told us to extend our downwind until his approval to turn base. We were cleared for a visual approach to Runway 16L by Potomac Approach which is an IFR IAP when on a IFR flight plan. As the Tower did not tell us to extend downwind; we assumed Tower had us both in sight and believed spacing to be good. Tower should have confirmed we had traffic to follow in sight before allowing us to turn base as it is virtually impossible for a jet with a Vref of 130 KTS to follow a helicopter to the same runway that is going to zero its airspeed for an autorotation.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.