N941WR
Legacy Member
Sunday I was flying with a friend when we spotted an Arrow maneuvering 500 feet above our altitude. We were heading due east and he was at our 11 O?clock position and turning right. At the time we spotted him he was also heading east but in mid turn.
My friend, who is also a pilot saw him first and wanted me to turn to the right away from him. I elected to descend and turn left, towards him. I chose to go this route so I could keep an eye on him (Thanks Van?s for the glass ceiling!) and to minimize the time we were close together.
This move caused us to fly directly under him, which in hindsight, I?m not real happy with but at least it allowed me to keep him in site until we were clear of him.
My friend wanted me to turn right, which would have raised my left wing and forced me to loose sight of him when I?m not sure the Arrow even knew we where there. That would have put him behind us and possibly in a position to catch us from behind.
Two other pieces of information that is relevant, the Arrow in question is based at our home field and is used for training so we knew he wasn?t a transient but was someone practicing maneuvers and this all happened around 5,000 feet AGL.
I post this not to ask who was right or wrong but rather to ask if I took the correct action. It is possible that since the Arrow was maneuvering he could have stalled as we passed underneath him.
What are your thoughts and opinions?
My friend, who is also a pilot saw him first and wanted me to turn to the right away from him. I elected to descend and turn left, towards him. I chose to go this route so I could keep an eye on him (Thanks Van?s for the glass ceiling!) and to minimize the time we were close together.
This move caused us to fly directly under him, which in hindsight, I?m not real happy with but at least it allowed me to keep him in site until we were clear of him.
My friend wanted me to turn right, which would have raised my left wing and forced me to loose sight of him when I?m not sure the Arrow even knew we where there. That would have put him behind us and possibly in a position to catch us from behind.
Two other pieces of information that is relevant, the Arrow in question is based at our home field and is used for training so we knew he wasn?t a transient but was someone practicing maneuvers and this all happened around 5,000 feet AGL.
I post this not to ask who was right or wrong but rather to ask if I took the correct action. It is possible that since the Arrow was maneuvering he could have stalled as we passed underneath him.
What are your thoughts and opinions?