Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Sport / Recreational
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 9; Flight Crew Total 358; Flight Crew Type 330
Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
Conflict NMAC; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
On initial approach into T82 (Fredericksburg; Texas); I had called in my distance and bearing on CTAF at about 9 nm out. I was approaching at about 2;200 MSL under marginal VMC ceiling; cruising at about 115 kt. While monitoring T82 CTAF; I heard two pilots chatting. I didn't pay much attention to the text of their chat; since none of it was a position announcement; tail number; traffic advisory; etc. At about 5 nm out; I was about to make a second position and intention announcement on CTAF when I heard one of the pilots that had been chatting earlier exclaim; 'Look out!' I looked up from the GPS that I had been programming for my next destination; and straight ahead; on a head-on course; were what looked like two AT-6's. The one to my right had just initiated an evasive pull up and left bank to avoid hitting me. The one to my left was flying straight and level. I passed between the two at the same altitude; with probably 50' horizontal clearance to each aircraft. There was no time for me to perform any evasive maneuver. I performed a 180-degree turn to get a look at the two receding aircraft. I called on CTAF; 'That was a little close; boys. Did you hear my position announcement a couple of minutes ago?' One of them replied that he had heard me transmit; but had not copied the position. It was unclear whether this was due to a broken transmission or simply not paying attention. I did not pursue further conversation. I did not get their tail numbers; since they had made no standard position nor intention announcements on CTAF. For about ten seconds prior to this; my head had been down in the cockpit. My autopilot was on; and I was programming my GPS for my next destination after a lunch stop at T82. I was periodically looking up and out to scan for traffic and check flight conditions; but my head was down during the time I might have spotted the approaching aircraft. I also had my ADS-B in/out system operational; and I had been receiving traffic data prior to this; which gets displayed on my Garmin 796 GPS along with audible traffic warnings. The other two aircraft did not show up on the traffic display. This must be due to one of two things. One possibility is that I was too low for my ADS-B transponder to be interrogated by a secondary ATC radar. This would result in no traffic data being broadcast around my position. (I was definitely receiving other ADS-B information such as weather at this position; but I do not know if I had TIS-B at the time.) The other possibility is that the other two aircraft simply had their transponders turned off; and therefore did not show up in the TIS-B data. I fault myself for having my head in the cockpit too much and not fully applying 'see and avoid;' and relying too much on CTAF announcements and ADS-B traffic to avoid conflicts. I fault the other pilots for not listening to nor making standard CTAF position and intention announcements when operating in the vicinity of an uncontrolled airport; and a rather busy one at that.
LSA pilot experiences a NMAC with two AT6's; opposite direction; at 2;200 feet approaching T82. The lead AT6 takes evasive action and the LSA pilot passes close between the two.