Cessna Single Piston Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 159; Flight Crew Total 603; Flight Crew Type 538
Situational Awareness
Conflict NMAC; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors
Over the North Test Track in the Southwest Practice Area; my student and I were flying eastbound and making the appropriate position reports to alert others in the area that we would be flying through. My student was flying under the hood and I was responsible for scanning for traffic. Shortly after my call I spotted an aircraft at our same altitude approaching head on and had not heard any position reports from them. I took controls and broke to the right and descended about 500 ft to avoid a collision. When I leveled the wings to get eyes on the aircraft again they were seemingly still flying at our altitude and in our direction but now from our left. I made another call on frequency for any traffic over the North Test Track to please advise and in return got two separate calls from aircraft that were below me; and not near me in the position I had eyes on. An aircraft was maneuvering at a lower altitude over the test track but not reporting until they saw me maneuver away from my head on traffic. The situation is not uncommon in our practice area; but usually everyone makes position reports and coordinates to remain well clear. Failure to report your position leads to these near miss encounters; which is why I tend to report often to remain as situationally aware as possible. A contributing factor may be that Right of Way Rules (14 CFR 91.113) are not properly interpreted or focused on as much as they should be; i.e. when two aircraft are approaching head on at the same altitude; each aircraft shall alter course to the right.
GA flight instructor reported a NMAC with another light aircraft in a practice area near TFD VOR.