Problem is, when you are taxiing in front of one of those big blind
warbirds, how would you know if they have the camera? I'd rather just
make my plane more visible to them and not trust them to see me by
other means. And the idea of stopping the warbird if unsure of being
in the clear, if all the areas the warbird pilot can see are clear,
he'll keep going. Wing walkers are mostly for taxiing in the
showgrounds, once on the taxiway, they are rarely used. Then it's up
to the aircraft to see and aviod each other. Which obviously has
serious flaws.

On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 07:25:15 -0700, Mark Hickey
wrote:

"Dudley Henriques" wrote:

"Jim Logajan" wrote in message
...
Dudley Henriques made the same objection when I suggested the same idea on
rec.aviation.piloting. The most significant problem with the objection is
that no one is proposing that the pilot stare at the screen - simply add
an
occasional glance at the screen to the pilot's normal visual scan. Such a
device should be no more objectional than the rearview mirrors in an
automobile - devices that add more to safe driving than they detract.

One more objection to the objection is :-)

At first glance, you might think that what you are proposing is safe and
workable, but it isn't in my opinion, and for several reasons. First of all,
nothing, and I repeat NOTHING, can take the place of a basic eyeball scan
OUTSIDE the cockpit when taxiing an aircraft in the WW2 tailwheel fighter
category. The entire concept of ground safety when taxiing these airplanes
is based on the simple premise that "if you can't clear or haven't cleared
the path in front of the nose for the linear distance the airplane will
travel before you can clear it again, YOU STOP THE AIRPLANE! This is a
cardinal rule when taxiing these airplanes and for very good reason.
snip

I suspect you're picturing the pilot staring continually at the video
screen while taxiing... that's not at all what I'd imagine.

Obviously most of your visual input is going to come from direct
observation "around the nose" of the aircraft - if someone's taxiing
in from the right, you want to see them before they're directly in
front of you. But if you're keeping your eyes open, there's no reason
to suspect that something's going to just appear in front of your
airplane unspotted - so there's no reason to spend a huge amount of
time fixated on the "straight ahead video view" - you'd use that like
you would a rear-view mirror. It sure beats stopping the airplane
every time you lose track of what might be directly ahead of you,
IMHO.

Mark Hickey