Bob, guess I didn't frame the Q properly enough.
While I knew about the GPWS and TCAS individually, I wasn't sure
whether TCAS was equipped to deal with purely traffic or whether
accidental straying into terrain would also be taken care of.
I'm asking this because I remember an incident of many years ago where
an idiot in the ATC asked an Indonesian aircraft to turn 'left' when he
had to say 'right' and the unsuspecting blokes ran into a mountain. I
was wondering if that kinduva incident can be avoided with the TCAS...

Cheers,

Ramapriya


Bob Moore wrote:
"Ramapriya" wrote

Does this get activated only when there's an aircraft in the
dangerous
vicinity or will it also trigger if the aircraft is hurtling
towards
some terrain such as a hill?

In my generation of aircraft, (B-727) they are two different systems.
First came the GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System) and then some
time later came the TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Advoidance
System).

And does every aircraft have this system these days, regardless of
size?

No, only passenger jets are required to have them.

Bob Moore