Date: 201712
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: TOL.TRACON, OH
Flight conditions: VMC
Weather elements / visibility: 10
Light: Night
Aircraft: Helicopter
Operating under: Part 91
Flight plan: None
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Climb
Airspace: Class C TOL
ATC / advisory: TRACON TOL
Second aircraft: Small Aircraft
Reporter organization: Personal
Reporter function: Captain; Single Pilot
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Human factors: Distraction; Situational Awareness; Workload
Anomaly: Conflict NMAC
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Contributing factors: Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
Primary problem: Environment - Non Weather Related

Narrative: My altitude were between 1200 and 1500 msl. On this particular flight; the passengers requested that I climb to a higher altitude to see further and get a view. This was after I had departed the downtown area and headed southwest of the city. I turned back to the city and started a climb after looking for traffic. No traffic was observed. I was southwest of the city flying toward the city and climbing at roughly 1200ft/min. Upon reaching about 2200MSL feet out of the corner of my right eye; I saw an aircraft overtaking me about 75-100 feet above me about 150 feet right of my flight path trending towards my flight path. I immediately turned to the left and entered a large rate of descent to avoid any further closure and or collision. I was making self-announced radio calls on the helicopter air-to-air frequency. I understood that in this particular instance; the traffic was an airplane and there was no frequency to self-announce over the downtown area that they could possibly be listening too. I have thought long and hard about what I could have done different and the only thing I think I could have done was to use Approach services for flight following as I had no idea another aircraft was in the area and was approaching me from behind. The other thing I could have done was a clearing turn to ensure the airspace was clear all around me before instituting a climb but I was already flying the direction of the oncoming airplane right before I turned toward the city and started a climb. I never saw the aircraft until it was that close. I am estimating the low wing [aircraft] never saw me as I never saw evasive action from them and I was below them and they were low wing and I was possibly in their blind spot. I was close enough to read tail numbers and see the color of the aircraft and this was at night. It appeared this was a perfect storm for a midair as we were both in each other's blind spot. I am reminded of the dangers of flying over larger cities as it draws more air traffic. I was sincerely humbled by this mishap and will work my hardest to try to not let it happen again although I do feel it was a very low chance occurrence. I hope others can learn from this near miss and I am excited for my aircraft to be installed with ADS-B [soon].




Synopsis: Helicopter pilot reported a NMAC that required an evasive maneuver to avoid collision.