Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 2 Eng; Retractable Gear
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25; Flight Crew Total 1300; Flight Crew Type 20
Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness
Conflict NMAC
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Airspace Structure; Human Factors
Was on a routine personal maintenance flight along coast in Class E VFR space and requested VFR advisories while at 4;500 ft. Was flying northbound along coast when SoCal approach handed us off to next controller who promptly alerted us to traffic at our 10 o'clock and 5;000 ft a King Air. I saw traffic at 10 o'clock and probably 4;000 feet (below us) but not above us and told him as such. He said; yes that's a Bonanza but that there was a King Air at 5;000 ft. SoCal requested we drop down to 4;200 ft to provide additional separation which we did. We continued northbound for several more minutes but were quickly bearing down on R-2503 A&D (restricted airspace for Camp Pendleton). Knowing we were going to arrive in that airspace fairly shortly I was expecting SoCal to turn us right or left to deviate from that area (he was very busy and I didn't want to interrupt him knowing he'd request a turn shortly). When he didn't request it I made a 180 degree turn to avoid the restricted area (and did avoid it) and as I was about 90-degrees into the turn I saw the King Air at about my 2 o'clock and about 500 ft above and called 'King Air insight' for visual separation. I noticed that during the turn I had come up in altitude from 4;200 to 4;350 ft. The King Air responded after me saying; 'We have the Cessna insight also and we got a TCAS RA notice.' I didn't have TCAS on board so I received no RA notice. I do receive conflict alerts from a traffic advisory system but did not get a conflict alert. The SoCal ATC operator then responded to me: 'Stop your climb' (which I already had and was returning to 4;200 ft) and further said; 'King Air has you in sight AND he got an RA. Thanks for that!' Both the King Air and ourselves had each other 'in sight' and visually separated at all times during the turning maneuver.
A twin engine pilot; reported an airborne traffic conflict while maneuvering to avoid a restricted area. While maneuvering; the pilot deviated from his assigned altitude; resulting in a resolution advisory (RA) in the other aircraft.