Nearest near-miss?

And on the other side of that coin...

When I was a First Officer/Instructor Engineer with Braniff back in
1979/80, we were on the second to last leg home from Denver (Stapleton)
to Colorado Springs and then back to Dallas.Â* Our flight clearance was
to fly down the front range at 11,000 feet and I recall the Captain
saying:Â* "Let's see how fast this baby will go." I did not know about
gliders back then but we made 350 KIAS through an area that I later flew
a lot in gliders.Â* I hope there were no gliders about at the time.Â* A
727 would have been very large and loud at max power from the
perspective of a glider.

On 5/10/2019 1:07 PM, Dan Marotta wrote:
OK, prior to transponders in gliders, I was flying over South Park, CO
at the highest legal altitude.Â* A Citation jet heading for Buena Vista
descended over me passing just in front.Â* I recall clearly his wheels
in the gear wells.Â* Had I thought of it at the time, I probably could
have read the brand name on the tires.Â* Very unsettling.Â* Still it was
quite some time before I installed a Trig 22.Â* It had not been
invented at the time of my close encounter.

On 5/10/2019 10:47 AM, wrote:
The Transponder chatter on other threads got me to thinking about
who’s got the closest near-miss? Thought I’d kick it off with my
incident over 40 years ago. I was flying my homebuilt wooden
sailplane over Mono Lake, Ca. Cursing south at 16000’ and 60 knots
when I spotted a 4 engine jet below and to my left. Our flight paths
were going to intersect, but he was a good 500 feet below me. Two
seconds later it became crystal clear that it wasn’t a 4 engine jet,
it was a 4 pod jet with 8 engines and the B-52 was climbing fast! Too
late for me to maneuver,I’m doing 60 and he’s doing maybe 360, and I
didn’t want to throw my belly to him. I just sat there thinking I had
a front row seat to my demise! As he passed just under my nose, I
could clearly see the copilot reading his checklist! I’m sure they
never saw me, but I sure as hell saw them! I figured the wake
turbulence was going to tear my little Duster to bits, so I tightened
up my parachute straps. Nothing! Guess the turbulence all went below
and behind him.Â* How far can you see a man reading a book? I’ll lay
claim at 50 Feet!
Let’s hear your story,
JJ


--
Dan, 5J