When cleared off the mount vernon visual to circle to land on runway 33 the flight crew of a commerc...

Narrative:

We were on the mount vernon visual approach to washington national airport; and the tower instructed us to circle to land on runway 33. While we made our approach to runway 33; tower advised a helicopter was maneuvering at our 12 o'clock position. As we continued our approach; tower instructed the helicopter to 'make a right 360 for a jet on a 2 mile final for runway 33; and to report him in sight' (referring to our aircraft.) the tower then asked the helicopter if he had us in sight. He replied 'yes'; and the tower told him to maintain visual separation. As we began our turn from base to final; the helicopter made what looked like a right turn directly into our flight path. The captain; the pilot flying; made a hard right turn and executed a missed approach to avoid a collision. I'm not sure how close we came to the helicopter since it was on the left side of the aircraft; but I would guess it was only a few hundred feet.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: When cleared off the Mount Vernon visual to circle to land on Runway 33 the flight crew of a commercial fixed wing aircraft suffered a NMAC with helicopter that had been directed to make a right 360 to clear the approach path.

Narrative: We were on the Mount Vernon Visual Approach to Washington National Airport; and the Tower instructed us to circle to land on Runway 33. While we made our approach to Runway 33; Tower advised a helicopter was maneuvering at our 12 o'clock position. As we continued our approach; Tower instructed the helicopter to 'make a right 360 for a jet on a 2 mile final for Runway 33; and to report him in sight' (referring to our aircraft.) The Tower then asked the helicopter if he had us in sight. He replied 'yes'; and the Tower told him to maintain visual separation. As we began our turn from base to final; the helicopter made what looked like a right turn directly into our flight path. The Captain; the pilot flying; made a hard right turn and executed a missed approach to avoid a collision. I'm not sure how close we came to the helicopter since it was on the left side of the aircraft; but I would guess it was only a few hundred feet.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1090002
Time
Date	201305
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	DCA.Airport
State Reference	DC
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Helicopter
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict NMAC Deviation - Procedural Clearance
Miss Distance	Horizontal 300 Vertical 300

When cleared off the mount vernon visual to circle to land on runway 33 the flight crew of a commercial fixed wing aircraft suffered a near midair collision with helicopter that had been directed to make a right 360 to clear the approach path.