Narrative:

We are bringing up a situation that has happened for a third time; is not ATC's or another aircraft's fault; but is an accident just waiting to happen. When IFR aircraft approaches see's localizer D from the north/west; we are always vectored south of ramona and over the very far edge of el capitan reservoir at 6;000. A great deal of flight training goes on over el capitan reservoir. For the first 6 years we flew in this area; we never had a conflict. We have now been on approach three times and have encountered aerobatic aircraft and/or aircraft practicing steep turns operating between 5;000 and 7;000 ft. Usually our tis shows up the erratic flying and we cringe as we get closer; but there isn't a total conflict. Yesterday; we were flying right at the guy and alerted ATC. Even with the vectors; we were really uncomfortable as he came out of a steep turn right behind us. We don't think sct approach did anything wrong. They were; as always; professional and on top of things. However; this is a systems error waiting to claim a life. We fly two pilot IFR with our heads on a swivel; and we know the airspace and the approach well. Imagine a single pilot IFR or a student IFR flight with heads down and aerobatics just ahead. Yes; of course; one would hope that ATC would alert them early; but this is san diego's busiest sct sector; with the controller handling both san arrivals as well as sdm; myf and see. Also; even with 4 miles notice; it was still hard for ATC and for us to get out of the way. So many holes are lining up for an accident. The VFR folks don't know we are out there; and most of the IFR folks probably don't know they are out there. There are tons of folks doing flight training. It is a high work load time on an IFR flight with lots of fast airplanes moving through that space. And; it is an extremely busy sector for ATC. Any one of those holes being closed stops the accident; but if they all line up; somebody is going to die. We strongly [recommend] that somebody study this issue soon and that at a minimum the faast representatives consider the issue for a seminar. Ideally; the chart should be updated to alert the VFR folks that there is heavy IFR traffic between 5;000 and 7;000 ft and the IFR folks that there is intensive flight training over el capitan.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA-32 pilot on SCT vectors for SEE LOC D reported an NMAC near El Capitan Reservoir where heavy VFR training occurs; and suggests more extensive information dissemination about the potential for conflicts in that area.

Narrative: We are bringing up a situation that has happened for a third time; is not ATC's or another aircraft's fault; but is an accident just waiting to happen. When IFR aircraft approaches SEE's LOC D from the north/west; we are always vectored south of Ramona and over the very far edge of El Capitan Reservoir at 6;000. A great deal of flight training goes on over El Capitan Reservoir. For the first 6 years we flew in this area; we never had a conflict. We have now been on approach three times and have encountered aerobatic aircraft and/or aircraft practicing steep turns operating between 5;000 and 7;000 FT. Usually our TIS shows up the erratic flying and we cringe as we get closer; but there isn't a total conflict. Yesterday; we were flying right at the guy and alerted ATC. Even with the vectors; we were really uncomfortable as he came out of a steep turn right behind us. We don't think SCT Approach did anything wrong. They were; as always; professional and on top of things. However; this is a systems error waiting to claim a life. We fly two pilot IFR with our heads on a swivel; and we know the airspace and the approach well. Imagine a single pilot IFR or a student IFR flight with heads down and aerobatics just ahead. Yes; of course; one would hope that ATC would alert them early; but this is San Diego's busiest SCT sector; with the Controller handling both SAN arrivals as well as SDM; MYF and SEE. Also; even with 4 miles notice; it was still hard for ATC and for us to get out of the way. So many holes are lining up for an accident. The VFR folks don't know we are out there; and most of the IFR folks probably don't know they are out there. There are tons of folks doing flight training. It is a high work load time on an IFR flight with lots of fast airplanes moving through that space. And; it is an extremely busy sector for ATC. Any one of those holes being closed stops the accident; but if they all line up; somebody is going to die. We strongly [recommend] that somebody study this issue soon and that at a minimum the FAAST representatives consider the issue for a seminar. Ideally; the chart should be updated to alert the VFR folks that there is heavy IFR traffic between 5;000 and 7;000 FT and the IFR folks that there is intensive flight training over El Capitan.

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.