Sail Plane
Flight Crew Glider; Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 5.5; Flight Crew Total 200; Flight Crew Type 185
Distraction; Workload
Conflict NMAC
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Aircraft; Airspace Structure; Procedure; Human Factors
I experienced a near midair collision while flying a glider south of the ZZZ airport. Purpose of the flight was currency since the soaring season is mostly over apart from mountain wave flying. Typically; I take a tow into the mountains to connect with the excellent soaring conditions. The plan was to stay close to the airport and perform a short pattern flight. Before the flight; I thought about the extra vigilance required due to the flight in congested airspace. Flying in the mountains presents it's own set of challenges; but from a traffic perspective it's much less stressful than flying close to the ZZZ airport. Takeoff and climbout were normal; and we were established on an easterly heading in the 'glider box' climbing through 7;200 feet when I released from the tow plane. Normal release procedure is to clear right; release from tow; and perform a slight climbing right turn to deconflict from the tow plane while the towplane performs a descending left turn. This was accomplished; and I kept the turn going to a 270 heading. Once rolling wings level at 270; I was presented with the image of a blue and white Piper Cherokee rapidly filling my windscreen head on. Time from recognition to action was within a second and I dumped the nose to build airspeed/separation and rolled right to deconflict. The Cherokee seemed to pick me up at the last minute; and I observed him making a slightly delayed climbing right turn. I estimated separation at between 100 and 200 feet. It was too close! If I remained on tow on an easterly heading; there is a very good chance the Cherokee would have flown directly into me at my 6 o'clock. Very similar to a fatal midair accident that happened 10 years ago at ZZZ between a towplane; glider; and Cirrus transitioning the area. I was on the ZZZ CTAF with the tow plane; and neither me or the tow pilot heard the Cherokee making position calls. The Cherokee continued it's flight eastbound and I made an announcement about the near miss and called his position to anyone else on frequency. Technically; nobody did anything wrong. The Cherokee was not required to make position calls. However; in the busy airspace around ZZZ this is common sense. See and avoid worked; but just barely. I was squawking 1202 (glider transponder code per Letter Of Agreement with TRACON) with a Mode S transponder. I confirmed the transponder was on during my before takeoff checklist and directly following the incident. I had a FLARM collision avoidance system installed in the glider. This picks up Mode C; Mode S; and other Flarm traffic. In the event of a conflict; there is an audible warning and the screen on the S100 variometer displays the clock position; distance; and altitude above/below of conflicting traffic. Very similar to a TCAS. It does not display resolution advisory/vertical speed required for deconfliction. The FLARM alarm did not activate; and I didn't even look at the instrument. My eyes were outside the whole time and I was very lucky they were. This comes down to solid training and a good scan. The World War II pilots had it right. 'Keep your head on a swivel'. Don't trust your traffic avoidance system to show or alert you to everything out there. TCAS; ADS-B; TIS; FLARM; etc. all offer an absolutely incredible advantage in situational awareness and safety. However; it's not a 100% solution. Many gliders and older powered aircraft don't have transponders; and a traffic avoidance system won't pick up something they can't see. You still need to look outside the cockpit.The FLARM/S100 system has certain configurations that can be set by the pilot on when to audibly and visually alert on a potential conflict. Due to flying in close proximity to the tow plane on tow; I believe it's a possible setting to inhibit warnings while on tow. Since this happened within seconds of release; it's possible that is the reason I didn't receive an alert. I'll need to do some reading of the manual and also investigatethe configuration of the S100/FLARM system installed on Aircraft X to further understand this logic. It's very possible this is my fault; and by configuring the system differently I could have avoided a slice of swiss cheese or two from lining up. It's not the people talking on the radio that will hit you; it's the people that aren't. A good scan is critical. Keep that head on a swivel and outside. When releasing from tow in the future; I'll start clearing not only my 3 to 4 o'clock but all the way to my 6 o'clock. It's unlikely I would have spotted the traffic doing that due to the headrest blocking my view directly backwards; but it's a good idea none the less. The local terrain and airspace setup cause a bottleneck between the mountains to the west and the Class B to the east. You have a lot of airplanes flying VFR in a fairly small corridor. That ups the chances for these types of incidents occurring. More education for pilots that not all traffic will be presented or presented accurately on their traffic displays. This is a perfect example. Many pilots think everything out there that can hit them will show up on Foreflight; TCAS; etc. That's absolutely not the case. Better education about the 'glider box' at ZZZ. There is a note about it on the ZZZ airport website; and in the Chart Supplement. It's buried; and realistically not many pilots read those materials for airports they will overfly. There should be a note on the Sectional about the specific dimensions/locations of the ZZZ glider box.Even better; the FAA should make a database of this type of airspace and it's dimensions and allow it to be displayed as an overlay on tools like Foreflight. Just like they do with TFRs. While the Chart Supplement is an awesome resource; my honest experience is nobody looks at it unless they are taking a checkride. Everyone uses Foreflight these days. By presenting this type of airspace as a graphical overlay on these types of moving maps/apps; you have a much higher likelihood of awareness and compliance from the pilot population. This would increase safety tremendously! This wasn't a causal factor in this incident; but easily could be in a future one. All gliders should be required to have transponders. There are plenty of people flying gliders at 17;999 feet. In busy terminal arrival and departure corridors without a transponder. The battery technology exists for this to not be a problem anymore. I can fly all day with my transponder; radio; electronic variometer; and two moving map displays without running out of battery power.
A Glider pilot reported a NMAC with a fixed wing aircraft while in a published glider flying area that is close to a busy airport on one side and a mountain range on the other.