Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 75; Flight Crew Total 2200; Flight Crew Type 250
Workload; Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Distraction; Confusion; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict NMAC; Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation - Altitude Undershoot; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types
Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors; Airport; Procedure
Our departure clearance was climb on runway heading to 2;000 feet. Before lining up I noted and verbalized to Pilot Flying (PF) of glider tow traffic to the west of the runway departure end; but didn't think it was an issue since it was so close in to the airport and ATC was talking to multiple aircraft in the vicinity. They didn't appear to be moving into our departure path.After departure and on initial climb out I noticed a TCAS target plus 4 (400 above) approx 2-3 miles ahead of us. I zoomed in on my display (during high workload time; nonetheless) to see it was actually less than a mile in front of us; and rapidly converging on our position. I looked out of the window and saw a glider in tow immediately on a collision course. The glider released and turned directly toward us. I believe the PF's head was down and I called out 'traffic - push down. Push down; turn right' and proceeded to grab the controls and keep saying this while helping him maneuver. He acquired the glider and we aggressively maneuvered to avoid a collision. No RA was given since we were close to the ground.This happened while simultaneously being handed off to NY [Center]. I advised them of our maneuver for a near-miss with a glider. Had we not taken evasive action we might have collided with the glider and/or the tow plane. I believe we could have queried about the traffic before departing to be sure; but some time had passed since us seeing that traffic and being cleared for take-off. We didn't see any traffic immediately before being cleared for takeoff. I believe ATC may have made an error in clearing us for departure - it should have been delayed to avoid this close-in traffic. It was a nice day and lots of GA activity was happening on the airport. I believe we could have more aggressively maneuvered or maneuvered sooner when seeing the TCAS target. It was a high workload time but collision avoidance and flying should have taken precedence over all else when seeing an airplane on a converging flight path. In the future I will not hesitate to speak up and ask about potential conflicts instead of just assuming ATC has handled it.
The reporter stated that on contact with ZNY the crew was deviating from a Near Miss to which the controller responded 'Oh; I didn't know they had glider operations in progress.' FOK Tower was in operation at the time; but the reporter does not know if the other two aircraft were talking with ATC even though all three aircraft were in Class D airspace at the time.
A Corporate aircraft departed FOK IFR and had near miss below 1;500 feet with a glider and tow aircraft off the runway end with Class D airspace in operation.