NMAC

NMAC is an acronym for Near Mid-Air Collision. That is what happens when two guys get so close that they might actually hit. Then, what we call "Aluminum showers with intermittent falling bodies" occurs.

That is what happened to me the other night. I was training, and had given a pilot visual separation from another plane to climb. Unfortunately, he had the wrong plane in sight.

See, when a pilot accepts visual separation, it means that I am absolved from my normal separation responsibilities because the pilot is taking over to make sure that he misses the other plane. With that in mind, it soon became apparent that this pilot saw the WRONG airplane. As a result, he almost flew into the RIGHT airplane. Both at the same altitude, and the transponder targets cancelled. I figured that was it; my first mid-air. Bummer. By the time we realized the pilot's mistake, there was nothing for us to do.

But, they came apart and nothing else was mentioned. Lesson learned for me. But, it is just another way that my inexperience caused me to make a move that was not in the best interests of anyone. The FAA should know by now that the loss of seasoned professionals and their replacement with low-time rookies is going to cause problems---and more than just delays: deaths.

Ask those two pilots who dodged the bullet the other night.