CorvAircraft> VFR altitudes

[Dave Morris "BigD"]

I got my ticket in 1983 and used to fly around my practice area near 
Allen, Texas using a big blue water tower as a landmark.  I'd fly 
steep turns, S-turns, practice stalls, all sorts of stuff in this 
area my instructor told me to fly in.

One day I had a chance to ride in the cockpit of Anheuser Busch's 
Lockheed Jetstar from Dallas Love Field to St. Louis.  The jumpseat 
between pilot and copilot was empty and they enjoyed showing me how 
things worked in a fast-moving bizjet.  We watched an F-15 almost run 
over a TWA jet that wasn't taxiing across the runway fast enough at 
STL.  It was great.

Great, that is, until on the return flight we came barrelling back 
through my beloved practice area over Allen, Texas, at 4000 feet, 
with both the pilot and copilot having their head buried in charts, 
instruments, and playing with the fuel management system.  They 
rarely even looked outside; they were on an IFR flight plan.  There 
probably wasn't any VFR traffic in "my" practice area or ATC would 
have advised us of it.  But what if the controller had switched off 
the 1200 squawks to clear up his screen?  They do that - I've been on 
tours of ATC centers.  Back then the floor of the "TCA" was 4000 ft, 
so I would have been required to stay below that, but this Jetstar 
was AT 4000 feet, and if I had decided to give myself a little extra 
altitude before doing stalls, I might have been right in their path.

 From then on, whenever I was flying around in "my" practice area, I 
kept a MUCH more watchful eye for fast-moving IFR traffic, a MUCH 
more watchful eye on my altimeter, and I quit assuming that just 
because someone was on IFR that they would know I was out there.

I've also called my downwind leg only to hear someone else call the 
same downwind leg, yanked the wings over to see another aircraft just 
a few feet below me.  We had both turned in from opposite directions, 
our wings blocking our view of each other.

The airspace is crowded here in Dallas.  We can't rely on 500 ft 
steps or on radar to keep us separated.  We have to keep an eagle eye 
peeled.  I also like to make a game for my passengers to try to find 
the other airplanes out there.  They often see things I don't.

Dave Morris



At 06:16 PM 4/30/2006, you wrote:
>Hi guys Im Fred the one that started this wrong altitude thing. If it helps
>1 pilot think and do right Im glad I did it I have been a pilot 50 
>yrs and  Im
>a Citation pilot, it really makes me nervious to think I may be at the proper
>  alt. and unknown to me have a airplane same alt. closeing with me at 400
>mph,  and the other pilot dont know he is doing anything wrong,and he has his
>head  inside, looking at insturments and writing notes.  Fred
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