A PA28 pilot reported an airborne conflict with another light aircraft on a short flight from bed to...

Narrative:

I was the second departure in a series of four: another piston single; me; followed by a turbo prop and a small jet. I was on an instrument flight plan and cleared to depart runway 29 with a left turn to 250 issued at the hold line. The tower alerted me to traffic in bound traffic for the left downwind. I departed and; at roughly 1;100 MSL; I initiated my left turn to 250. Bed tower then gave me an immediate hand-off to boston approach. As I was tuning the radio to 124.4 I lowered the nose to check for traffic. I then saw a [high wing light aircraft] zip by at roughly 500 ft horizontal distance and roughly 150 to 200 ft vertical distance. The [other aircraft] didn't appear to have taken any evasive action. I did not either; as we were on nearly orthogonal courses. Neither bedford tower before the hand off nor boston approach after the hand off called any specific traffic. On my departure I never had the downwind traffic bed tower called out in sight. I also never told them I had the traffic. They passed the traffic alert with my departure clearance while I was still on the ground holding short of runway 29. Despite being a flight instructor; and having reminded trainees on many occasions that departing an IFR flight plan doesn't relieve the pilot of full traffic awareness when in VMC; I allowed my focus on IFR procedures during a VMC departure from an unfamiliar airport to interfere with and reduce the amount of time I spent looking out of the windows for traffic. I was focused on my vectors to the bosox intersection; the hand off to boston approach and not enough on looking for traffic. I am glad that I lowered the nose and took a look; but overall my eyes were inside too much. Also; as I have told many trainees; the pilot workload is higher for an IFR departure in VMC because you have to do all the IFR cockpit tasks; but also all the VFR traffic avoidance tasks. I am lucky that we missed each other. This experience is a valuable personal teaching moment and one that I can use constructively with my students.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA28 pilot reported an airborne conflict with another light aircraft on a short flight from BED to BOS. The crowded airspace was a contributing factor.

Narrative: I was the second departure in a series of four: another piston single; me; followed by a turbo prop and a small jet. I was on an instrument flight plan and cleared to depart Runway 29 with a left turn to 250 issued at the hold line. The Tower alerted me to traffic in bound traffic for the left downwind. I departed and; at roughly 1;100 MSL; I initiated my left turn to 250. BED Tower then gave me an immediate hand-off to Boston Approach. As I was tuning the radio to 124.4 I lowered the nose to check for traffic. I then saw a [high wing light aircraft] zip by at roughly 500 FT horizontal distance and roughly 150 to 200 FT vertical distance. The [other aircraft] didn't appear to have taken any evasive action. I did not either; as we were on nearly orthogonal courses. Neither Bedford Tower before the hand off nor Boston Approach after the hand off called any specific traffic. On my departure I never had the downwind traffic BED Tower called out in sight. I also never told them I had the traffic. They passed the traffic alert with my departure clearance while I was still on the ground holding short of Runway 29. Despite being a flight instructor; and having reminded trainees on many occasions that departing an IFR flight plan doesn't relieve the pilot of full traffic awareness when in VMC; I allowed my focus on IFR procedures during a VMC departure from an unfamiliar airport to interfere with and reduce the amount of time I spent looking out of the windows for traffic. I was focused on my vectors to the BOSOX Intersection; the hand off to Boston Approach and not enough on looking for traffic. I am glad that I lowered the nose and took a look; but overall my eyes were inside too much. Also; as I have told many trainees; the pilot workload is higher for an IFR departure in VMC because you have to do all the IFR cockpit tasks; but also all the VFR traffic avoidance tasks. I am lucky that we missed each other. This experience is a valuable personal teaching moment and one that I can use constructively with my students.

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.

Attributes
ACN	982695
Time
Date	201111
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	BED.Airport
State Reference	MA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft High Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 530 Flight Crew Type 400
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict
Miss Distance	Horizontal 500 Vertical 150

A PA28 pilot reported an airborne conflict with another light aircraft on a short flight from bed to bos. The crowded airspace was a contributing factor.