Flight Crew Commercial
Conflict NMAC
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Airspace Structure; Human Factors; Procedure
While conducting a training flight in the Leesberg practice area; approximately 3-4 miles north of Mid Florida Airport (northwest corner under the class bravo airspace); at an altitude of 4;500 feet MSL; on a heading of approximately 360 degrees; I noticed a King Air aircraft closing in quickly; I would say it was less than a half mile; slightly northwest of our position. It appeared to be at the same altitude and was closing in very fast in our direction. I immediately took the controls and added full power and proceeded with a steep climb to avoid the King Air. All the while I had [been] making routine position reports on the practice area frequency of 123.5. I immediately switched to 121.1 approach control to see if there had been any traffic alerts being issued; upon doing this I heard the pilot of the King Air ask ATC 'Did you just see that cirrus go 100 feet over my head?' ATC's reply was one word 'no.' I checked to ensure our transponder was ON; and was in ALT mode; squawking 1200. Also; I know that this King Air was on an IFR flight plan. Please forward this to the Orlando TRACON.I'm not going to suggest people were not doing their jobs; but this is the closest I have ever come to an another aircraft while airborne.
An SR20 flight instructor and student suffered an NMAC with a King Air while on a training flight.