"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in message
...
RomeoMike wrote:
Gig 601XL Builder wrote:

The pilot of a Lan Chile Airbus A340, which was travelling between
Santiago, Chile, and Auckland, New Zealand, notified air traffic
controllers at Auckland Oceanic Centre after seeing flaming space
junk hurtling across the sky just five nautical miles in front of
and behind his plane about 10pm last night.

How does he know how far away it was? Does the Airbus have radar that
would measure the distance? It would be impossible to tell visually.

Maybe he timed the difference from when he saw it and when he heard it.
Hell I don't know I'm just passing the story along.


Those things are so fully equipped these days, he might have seen it on his
radar, or perhaps a collision avoidance system, hard to say. They may even
be able to replay the collision avoidance and radar data now days. I would
think some collision avoidance could be targeted aft. It would be
interesting to know.

Got any airline pilots out there anywhere? In the things I fly you are lucky
to have gps, unless you bring your own.