Robinson R44
Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 75; Flight Crew Total 7500
Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict NMAC
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors; Airspace Structure; Procedure
I have had two near misses in the Santa Monica; CA (SMO) Airspace within a two week period. I have contacted the appropriate Air Traffic Control managers and have not been satisfied that appropriate steps have been taken in the interest of safety. In the first near miss the Controller was asked by myself if he was aware that there was another helicopter northbound along the shore after I had been cleared for my southbound shoreline transition and the reply was no. According to the tapes not only should the Controller have been aware; he had just previously cleared the other aircraft for a northbound transition. This happened several weeks later again with a different Controller in the same airspace at the same location when the Controller did not respond to me when I asked if he was aware there was another helicopter at the pier after a near miss. I asked; several minutes later; to please clarify if he was aware of the other aircraft. The Controller then apologized and told me he had cleared another helicopter to work the pier and forgot to advise me. Both the Supervisor and the Manager of SMO Tower are now claiming that the Santa Monica Pier is not even in their Class D airspace. After reviewing charts the Santa Monica Pier now and has always resided well within the Class D. I believe we have a very dangerous situation when the SMO Tower Manager and the Supervisor don't even know the boundaries of the airspace that they are controlling. After 25 years of flying in this area; the Air Traffic Control System is not getting better but is degrading at an exponential rate and I feel the need for intervention.
A helicopter operating in the vicinity of the Santa Monica pier in contact with SMO ATCT experienced a NMAC with another helicopter on two occasions.