Did you remark how many mid-air collisions happened this year ? I don’t have formal statistics but their number seems higher than before. Can this be a consequence of the latest technological developments that I like so much ? GPS, auto-pilots, glass-cockpits, TIS, Mode-S and ADS-B ? This sounds unpleasant. Could these wonderful tools have negative aspects and cause accidents ? Let’s have a look…
GPS and auto-pilot: collision generators
Flying over a VOR at a VFR altitude can be risky. The system is accurate enough to bring good pilots within dozens of meters of each other. GPS is even better, with an accuracy which is smaller than the size of our aircraft. Couple it to a good two axis autopilot and you obtain a perfect collision generator. It’s just a question of timing. What is also “good” with VFR is that databases contain much more than VORs. Any navaid, airport, intersection becomes a possible collision point. The remedy ? See-and-avoid !
TIS and ADS-B: find your collision partner
TIS and ADS-B rely on different technology but have the same goal: display the position of other aircraft directly in the cockpit. Not to change each pilot into an interceptor, but to bring the information directly where it’s the most needed. FIS operators can see (almost) the same picture, but don’t always have time to detect all conflicts nor to transmit traffic infos. Have these perfect technologies some flaws ? Yes. TIS requires ground infrastructure, and Mode A/C transponders on board and ADS-B requires a Mode-S transponder and a GPS for positioning. Do you really think that all aircraft are equipped ? So how to not collide with aircraft that are not visible on traffic display ? Well… See-and-avoid !
Glass-cockpits and the nose-down-itis
My health is generally good, but if I don’t care I tend to suffer from two pilot-specific illnesses: push-button-itis and nose-down-itis. It’s not about lowering the nose of the aircraft, but the nose of the pilot. All time spent looking at dashboard goodies is not used for visual airspace surveillance. Flying with glass-cockpit made it even worse. This is fine for IFR but problematic for VFR. Terrain display is fine, but not all other traffic are displayed, and weather radar shows only precipitation, no clouds. May be glass-cockpits systems should display “see-and-avoid” in red letters accros the screen ? Let’s say every 5 seconds.
Is modern aviation guilty ?
No.
Technology is as good as the people using it. GPS, autopilots, TIS, ADS-B and glass-cockpits are good for situation awareness and make pilots life easier. Know your equipment and use accordingly. If you try to get more out of it than what it was designed for and safety will be jeopardized. It’s really that simple.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice article. Head turning and position awareness are indeed the key whether in the air and bumbling around on the ground.
In five years of flying for SkyWest, I think that I’ve only had to Resolution Advisories (RA) on my TCAS. One was while heading north out of LAX and the other in SFO. The one in LAX I never saw and we did have to take action. The SFO RA was someone moving too close to us while we were landing on the 28. We were able to see the airplane the whole time. No problemo.
Anyway, nice article!
Jeff
Thank you Jeff. It’s cool to see that the airline guys also continue to look outside
{ 1 trackback }