Helicopter pilot reports flying through glider traffic at 900 ft circling airport not depicted on GM...

Attributes
ACN	826781
Time
Date	200903
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ORL.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Helicopter
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Sail Plane
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach Other Traffic Pattern
Component
Aircraft Component	GPS & Other Satellite Navigation
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 18500
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC Deviation - Procedural FAR
Miss Distance	Horizontal 200 Vertical 200

Narrative:

We were returning to base about 70 miles away. Cruising at 900 ft and about half way home; we got audio warnings of aircraft at our altitude and less than 1 mile. As we searched the sky; we did not immediately see any aircraft. Within seconds; however; we found ourselves flying through a traffic pattern of gliders. We made an evasive maneuver to get above them and at least 2 of them moved to avoid us. We were using 2 garmin GPS units with current databases and a GMX200 moving map at the time and there was no indication of any landing facility on any of this equipment. Consequently; we encountered this airfield very unexpectedly. We feel that it was possibly a tow plane that gave us the audio warning and diverted our attention from the gliders which were much closer. There was also a very bright sun setting straight off our nose which complicated the situation greatly. My apologies to those that I frightened; but I feel that this might well happen again. Callback conversation with reporter revealed the following information: the reporter now understands the limitations of the GPS unit and future flights along this route will be planed to miss this airport by several miles.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Helicopter pilot reports flying through glider traffic at 900 FT circling airport not depicted on GMX200 moving map display. All parties take evasive action to avoid collision.

Narrative: We were returning to base about 70 miles away. Cruising at 900 FT and about half way home; we got audio warnings of aircraft at our altitude and less than 1 mile. As we searched the sky; we did not immediately see any aircraft. Within seconds; however; we found ourselves flying through a traffic pattern of gliders. We made an evasive maneuver to get above them and at least 2 of them moved to avoid us. We were using 2 Garmin GPS units with current databases and a GMX200 moving map at the time and there was no indication of any landing facility on any of this equipment. Consequently; we encountered this airfield very unexpectedly. We feel that it was possibly a tow plane that gave us the audio warning and diverted our attention from the gliders which were much closer. There was also a very bright sun setting straight off our nose which complicated the situation greatly. My apologies to those that I frightened; but I feel that this might well happen again. Callback conversation with Reporter revealed the following information: The reporter now understands the limitations of the GPS unit and future flights along this route will be planed to miss this airport by several miles.

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.

Helicopter pilot reports flying through glider traffic at 900 ft circling airport not depicted on GMX200 moving map display. All parties take evasive action to avoid collision.