Socal Mid-Air - Picture

[MikeD]

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...Now, when I was rolling-in on a target in R-2301E (live with 30mm gun), and I had a Piper PA-46 cross about 1000' under me........then we had a different story that day.

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Have you told this story yet? If not, I'd sure like to hear it!
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Was working South Tactical range in Arizona. It's located about 10 miles west of Ajo and about 20 miles north of the Mexican border. I was #2 in the flight of 2. We were working a target near dusk on the southern part of the range, a simulated airfield complex. WX was TCUs in the area and numerous CBs that we were working around with lightening and nearby thunderstorms, but not too close...just stuff to avoid. #1 had just rolled in for a pass and expended 200+ rounds of 30mm. He comes off his pass and we swap roles, him taking the cover role, while I take the attacker role. I orbit to the south of the target for a south to north roll-in. Getting into position, I call "2s in from the south", and from 23,000 MSL, roll about 120 degrees of bank and pull below the horizon to end up in a 65 degree wings-level dive as I line up the target up in the pipper. As my finger is squeezing the trigger to the first detent (flight control stabilization, second detent is the actual firing...about 1/2 a second between going from one to the other), I catch movement on the ground in my peripheral vision of a shadow, and just to the west of it (sun setting in the west) a Piper Malibu cruising about 2500 AGL northbound up my HUD and near the pipper as I'm just about to fire. I immediately call a knock-it-off and recover from the dive. #1 and I get the knock-it-off radio and deconfliction drill complete between ourselves, and I inform him that I'm "tally, light civil, left 10, 30 low, northbound, 2 miles...designate PA-46 Piper." The plane is approaching into the North Tactical area and we begin to follow it. He clears me off freq to contact range ops and find out who this is, and I do so. They don't know. A pair of F-16s entering NTAC from the north call into the area (their range time is starting), and we inform them of the aircraft. They instantly call "affirm, radar contact 10 low, opposite direction.....we'll take it from here." We offer to maintain the interception since we can co-speed the guy pretty easily, but they don't want or need our help, and let us know that fact, "no need, Knife, they're in our area now, we'll pick up the intercept...we got the air-air stuff." And with that, we returned to working our target over. Heard the guy had been VFR, and had deviated southwest on the way to San Diego from Tucson, and was going back northwest back on course. Problem is, for anyone familiar with the area, to go from TUS to SAN, there's no shortcut, you HAVE to go via Gila Bend, or deviate north around WX without penetrating PHX Class B. If you deviate south, you will penetrate R-2301E/W or R-2304 and R-2305, or both.

Guy never realized how close he came to getting a 30mm surprise by accident.