On Jul 7, 1:29*pm, Papa3 wrote:
On Jul 5, 12:34*pm, jcarlyle wrote:





On July 2 (a day with blue skies, a few scattered CUs and typical east
coast haze) a friend and I were thermalling our ASW-20 and ASW-19
sailplanes at 6,000 feet 3 miles SE of Blairstown, NJ (a clearly
marked glider port some 40 miles from Newark Airport and Teterboro
Airport). My Zaon MRX alerted us to traffic at our altitude 5 miles
away, which then rapidly closed on us. Despite our best efforts over
the next 30 seconds, neither my friend nor I saw anything approaching.
Then suddenly we saw a business jet in a 45-50 degree bank less than a
mile away. Apparently my transponder caused a TA on his TCAS, he
looked outside and saw our wings flashing, and he turned away from the
impending collision.

I realize not everyone flies in a high traffic area like that around
NY and PHL. But especially for my soaring friends who fly the
Governor’s Cup course, I strongly recommend you put a transponder in
your ship. They cost less than a glide computer, and while they won’t
tell you where you are, a transponder might just get you home someday…

-John

What I particularly like about John's post is that it's a "total
package" approach. * *No one item is enough, and even all of them
combined aren't foolproof.

As an aside, any of us who fly on the perimeter of busy class B
airspace need to take the time to understand the standard terminal
arrival routes. * *Spend some time learning where the "big boys" are
and make a conscious decision not to go there. * For instance, there
are 3 or 4 places in our local contest area (Governor's Cup) where I
would never want to be even if the best thermal in the world is
sitting right there.

As a second aside, I came as close as I've ever come to being skewered
by a Dash-8 a couple of weeks ago at 5,000 feet in a spot that's not
on anyone's "standard" anything. * Who knows if the guy was being
vectored for spacing or whatever, but it was REAL close. * *"Get the
transponder installed" has been on the to-do list for the winter. * I
think it's going to make it to the "must do" list for the next month
or so.

P3- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What led to our transponder installation was my nearly getting run
over from the 6 by a Regional Jet near UKT about a year ago,
in an area where I've never seen commercial activity. It may an
exageration, but I think the separation was less than 1000'. Hard to
see and avoid that.

Needless to say, that I was gratified to watch a Dash 8 manueuver to
avoid me
in a thermal near Limerick a couple of weeks ago. I think the Zaon is
the next addition, or is it the ELT upgrade............

Interestingly, these devices have a much higher WAF (wife acceptance
factor) than normal glider related stuff. In fact, the transponder
was mandated.

Chip F.