Very nicely reasoned argument, Doug. I'd only add that "day" has already
come - way back in 1978 when a collision between a Cessna on an instrument
training flight and a B-727 on arrival, both under ATC control, had a
mid-air. All souls were lost in both aircraft and a few on the ground, as
well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSA_Flight_182
"Doug Mueller" wrote in message
...
John, I would like to share this with you and the entire glider community.
FWIW. I fly transport category aircraft for a living. I fly gliders and
small prop jobs for a hobby. I cannot over emphasis how critical
transponder usage is in this day and age. The airspace system has seen
huge
pressure to condense for the number of airspace users. For example a
transport category aircraft is separated from another aircraft by only
1000
ft vertically above Flight Level 290(29000ft.)
The terminal airspace that is a 25 mile radius of a major airport is
overflowing and the Air Traffic Controllers are now spilling aircraft over
into other airspaces. Your EWR example is a perfect case.
In the lower altitudes of the controlled D airspace below 18000 along
airways and terminal areas, the transports rely on TCAS because we are
generally travelling anywhere from 4 to 9 miles per minute. I am a trained
general aviator and my head is outside of the cockpit 75% of the time. For
whatever reason sitting in the transport I can never see traffic with the
use of my own eyes before TCAS spots the traffic. It is probably because
of
my focal length is geared to looking farther down the road at 4 to 9 miles
per minute. When I get a TCAS alert I change my focal range to look for
traffic that is within 5 miles of my aircraft. At the speeds I fly I have
approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute to acquire visual contact before I
fly
past the vfr target. I have flown in and out of RENO and a lot up and down
the CA coast. Looking for gliders in the owns valley has always been a
challenge. I have not seen one yet. I have seen them on TCAS but have
never
visually acquired one.
The day is coming when a glider or a small aircraft will collide with a
transport. The day that happens all gliders and GA aircraft will be
grounded since the transport industry is an economic contributor and will
not be punished or the incident. All General Aviators have a
responsibility
to try to postpone that day. The transponder is a simple solution to
postponing that day. You can be part of the problem or part of the
solution. I wanna keep having the freedom to fly my glider. Thanks for
listening. Doug
At 14:12 12 June 2013, John Carlyle wrote:
A few months ago I would have agreed with John Cochrane and just let it
go
=
when he said: "Transponders lets the FAA and airliners avoid me. That's
ve=
ry important where I fly since Midway approach seems to love to blast
airli=
ners through 20 miles of congested class E airspace right over our club
at
=
4000'. But now I know that there is more to it.=20
I fly near the Class B airspace of PHL and EWR, and have been using a
trans=
ponder for 5 years. For 4 of those years I've been pleased, as I've seen
so=
me airliners (mostly commuters but a few big guys, too) make slight
course
=
diversions to avoid me while I was thermalling. Clearly they saw me on
thei=
r TCAS. But in late March I found out that EWR ATC either filtered out
my
=
1202 squawk or just ignored it, as suddenly I found myself 500 feet below
a=
747 doing 250 kt. Turned out I was inadvertently flying under an
approach
=
path to EWR outside the Class B airspace (I certainly won't be flying
near
=
it again)! I'm sure the 747 saw me on his TCAS, but have since found out
th=
at he would only deviate if he'd gotten a RA, otherwise he'd be in
trouble
=
with ATC.=20
There are two lessons I learned from this. First, a PowerFLARM and a
transp=
onder won't prevent you from getting way too close to other traffic, even
i=
f they are under ATC control and have TCAS. Second, if you are a VFR
pilot
=
flying outside Class B airspace, you need to educate yourself on likely
app=
roach and departure routes that lie outside the Class B, and be very
alert
=
and careful if you get near them.=20
-John, Q3