Date: 201405
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: GYI.Airport, TX
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Operator: Personal
Operating under: Part 91
Flight plan: None
Mission: Training
Flight phase: Final Approach
Airspace: Class D GYI
ATC / advisory: Tower GYI
Second aircraft: Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Retractable Gear
Reporter organization: Personal
Reporter function: Instructor
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Human factors: Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Workload; Distraction
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Conflict NMAC
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Contributing factors: Procedure; Human Factors; Environment - Non Weather Related
Primary problem: Procedure

Narrative: At 10 miles northeast of GYI; my student (pilot flying) called the Tower to establish two-way communication and request landing.  The Tower instructed us to follow traffic 10 miles north of GYI on a long final to Runway 17L and report 4 miles north.  At the time; there were several other pilots on the frequency.  The Tower Controller seemed workload saturated but was not to the point of instructing arrivals to remain outside the airspace.  With this amount of traffic; my situational awareness was perhaps moderate; and my student's minimal.  While we were maneuvering north of the airport; I heard another pilot request a practice approach for Runway 17L.  The practice approach was approved by the Tower with the instruction to remain east of the Runway 17L.  At around 5 miles north of the airport; the Tower asked our position; which I reported as close to 4 miles inbound.  Within 30 seconds later; I saw the practice approach aircraft flying head-on opposite of straight-in to the Runway; approximately 100 feet below us in the path of our descent.  I made an immediate steep turn to the right and informed the Tower of the deviation.  Based on only brief visual contact with the conflicting aircraft; I estimated our horizontal separation was less than 500 feet.  Without a turn; we would have overflown the traffic with negligible separation.Chain of Events- High density traffic. - Lack of radar service. - Inadequate situational awareness. - Lack of coordination. Human Performance Considerations- Tower Controller may have issued unclear instructions that would not result in separation of inbound and outbound traffic. - Tower Controller may have lost awareness of the practice approach aircraft's location. - The practice approach pilot may have been unaware of traffic already on final approach in the opposite direction. - My awareness of that aircraft's location was inadequate. - I could have improved my situational awareness by asking for more information about the practice approach traffic. - My student was operating in a situation beyond his level of experience in avoiding collisions.




Synopsis: An instructor pilot with student on a visual approach to GYI Runway 17L reported taking evasive action during a near miss from an aircraft on a practice to the same runway but flying opposite direction.