Cessna 150
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30; Flight Crew Total 3000; Flight Crew Type 200
Distraction; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Conflict NMAC; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
I was Instructor in right seat; Student Pilot in left seat. We were investigating an apparent fire in a stand of trees. I called FSS and was in the process of reporting the fire. I instructed my student to circle to the right so I could see the fire. Student was under the hood at the time. I fixated too long on the fire and monitoring aircraft control such that when I finally made a visual scan for traffic; I noticed what appeared to be a C172 close to us; I mean VERY close (at most 100 meters); opposite direction but from our front left; I'll say from our 11 [o'clock] position. The C172 was slightly higher than we were; but not by much. I could have easily read his N number. As soon as I saw him; I took control of the airplane and nosed down to give us more vertical separation. Student never knew what almost hit us due to the hood. Okay; so that's what happened. How to prevent in the future? KEEP MY HEAD OUTSIDE THE COCKPIT!
C150 instructor reported a NMAC while distracted with a fire report.