Military fighter radar sees other airplanes that are in the
area (a small area) in front of the fighter. That's why the
has ground based surveillance radar and airborne
surveillance radar, such as AWACS, so somebody can tell the
fighter pilot that there is a target at his 2 or 3 o'clock
position, 20 miles.

The radar in civilian airplanes does not see other airplanes
because the radar is on a frequency band designed to see
water droplets and the antenna is too small to have a
resolution high enough to see things like airplanes or cars.
Why does it see water, because the water droplet resonates
and returns a good return to the radar, if it is liquid.
Ice in the form of hail is hard for an airborne radar to see
since the solid water doesn't have the same properties.

Bottom line is that, you can't use weather radar to detect
targets, you might be able to see an oil tanker broadside at
5 miles, but not head on. What does work is systems that
detect the transponder in the other airplane and present a
warning display.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

wrote in message
oups.com...
| Stefan wrote:
|
| The most dangerous near misses are those which you'll
never know.
|
| Stefan
|
|
| I can see where the original poster's apprehension stems
from, having
| flown once, from the FO's seat. I wasn't at all inhibited
in doing a
| stall, steepish banks and other jiggles - in fact, I did
them all
| merrily. But I was petrified throughout the ride because
the craft, a
| JetFox, didn't have a radar and the only way of
recognizing traffic in
| the immediate neighborhood was by actually looking out the
window. Just
| felt a sense of being helplessly vulnerable in an open
sky. It might go
| away if I fly more, because the Capn seemed very assured

|
| Is it correct to assume that one can always be whacked by
traffic
| coming from between the 4 and 8 o'clock positions,
especially if the
| other craft is faster and climbing?
|
| Ramapriya
|