Narrative:

The flight in question originated from a remote landing strip with no communication facilities. Due to restricted flight visibility; a precautionary landing was made enroute. Flight service was contacted by phone and I was briefed on the existence of tfr in the vicinity. The flight continued approximately one hour later under slightly improved conditions. Based on the winds and the blowing smoke from the fire; I determined to proceed to the area well west of the tfr and when I was south of the tfr; continue direct to my destination. The visibility remained poor at 6 to 8 miles. I was only generally familiar with the terrain enroute and utilized no electronic navigation aids other than GPS. I believed I had successfully avoided the tfr and that it was well west of my course when a burnt out area suddenly appeared below me. I immediately turned east as I believed that would be the quickest exit from the tfr if indeed I had stumbled into it. As I exited the area of the fire; three aircraft made repeated passes at my airplane. They were a beech king air; a piper aerostar; and a beech baron. I immediately monitored the guard frequency (121.5) as well as local frequency; but heard no calls. At no point did any of the three aircraft initiate any published intercept procedures. Approximately six passes each of which consisted of a tight high speed descending turn directly in front of me with banks of what appeared to be 90 deg were conducted. The closest pass was approximately 200 ft from my aircraft. The repeated passes resulted in screams from my right seat passenger and at one point forced me to take negative G evasive action to prevent a potential mid air. All three airplanes left when I was approximately 5 miles clear of the burnt area. The flight continued uneventfully to the previously mentioned destinations. My future corrective actions will be to establish a GPS way point prior to proceeding in the vicinity of any tfr. This will insure that I will not lose situational awareness even in reduced visibility. My commentary on the assumed government aircraft intercept is that it was unwarranted and unsafe. Once my presence was established I made no attempt to conceal it and immediately left the area. The fire did not appear to be active and I did not observe any suppression activity so I do not believe I was an immediate threat. The aircraft could have easily obtained my n-number by coming along side in an established intercept procedure and by making radio contact. The tight high speed passes bordered more on harassment rather than legal intercept.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A VFR pilot believed that he strayed into a TFR and while exiting the area was threateningly approached by three aircraft.

Narrative: The flight in question originated from a remote landing strip with no communication facilities. Due to restricted flight visibility; a precautionary landing was made enroute. Flight Service was contacted by phone and I was briefed on the existence of TFR in the vicinity. The flight continued approximately one hour later under slightly improved conditions. Based on the winds and the blowing smoke from the fire; I determined to proceed to the area well west of the TFR and when I was south of the TFR; continue direct to my destination. The visibility remained poor at 6 to 8 miles. I was only generally familiar with the terrain enroute and utilized no electronic navigation aids other than GPS. I believed I had successfully avoided the TFR and that it was well west of my course when a burnt out area suddenly appeared below me. I immediately turned east as I believed that would be the quickest exit from the TFR if indeed I had stumbled into it. As I exited the area of the fire; three aircraft made repeated passes at my airplane. They were a Beech King Air; a Piper Aerostar; and a Beech Baron. I immediately monitored the guard frequency (121.5) as well as local frequency; but heard no calls. At no point did any of the three aircraft initiate any published intercept procedures. Approximately six passes each of which consisted of a tight high speed descending turn directly in front of me with banks of what appeared to be 90 deg were conducted. The closest pass was approximately 200 FT from my aircraft. The repeated passes resulted in screams from my right seat passenger and at one point forced me to take negative G evasive action to prevent a potential mid air. All three airplanes left when I was approximately 5 miles clear of the burnt area. The flight continued uneventfully to the previously mentioned destinations. My future corrective actions will be to establish a GPS way point prior to proceeding in the vicinity of any TFR. This will insure that I will not lose situational awareness even in reduced visibility. My commentary on the assumed government aircraft intercept is that it was unwarranted and unsafe. Once my presence was established I made no attempt to conceal it and immediately left the area. The fire did not appear to be active and I did not observe any suppression activity so I do not believe I was an immediate threat. The aircraft could have easily obtained my N-number by coming along side in an established intercept procedure and by making radio contact. The tight high speed passes bordered more on harassment rather than legal intercept.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.