Third Military-Civil MAC Jan. 18, 2005

On Wed, 09 Feb 2005 04:12:59 GMT, Mike Williamson
wrote in
. net::

Larry Dighera wrote:
[...]
I don't see how the fact of the MAC occurring within a MOA had any
affect in this case.


Perhaps not legally. For the practical matter, I'd say that the
pilot flying [the Air Tractor] should have understood that the presence
of the MOA indicated that there was a pretty good chance that someone would
be using the area for some type of practice, and that perhaps
either a bit of caution was called for, perhaps by flying under,
over, or around the MOA in question. If not willing to do that,
then contacting the local controlling agency should have ensured
that the aircraft operating in the MOA were aware of his presence
and extra precautions taken.

I agree that communication with controlling authority while operating
within MOA joint-use airspace is prudent. Of course, we don't know
that the Air Tractor pilot didn't contact the controlling authority of
the MOA at this point in the investigation. He did apparently have a
handheld communications radio aboard.

It would, almost certainly, have saved the man's life.

I fail to see how a 200 knot flight on an IFR flight plan within a MOA
is distinguishable from one outside the MOA's boundaries.

Of course, a transponder would likely have done
the same thing, whether he bothered to talk to anyone or not.

I would expect a good likelihood that ATC would have advised the T-37
of the traffic conflict if the Air Tractor had been equipped with a
transponder. The controller might have also done so if he had been
able to see the Air Tractor's primary target on his radar scope. But
the responsibility for seeing and avoiding was clearly on the
shoulders of the T-37 PIC in VMC at the time of the MAC due to the Air
Tractor being on his right.


http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text....2.4.7&idno=14
Title 14: Aeronautics and Space
PART 91—GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES
Subpart B—Flight Rules
General
§ 91.113 Right-of-way rules: Except water operations.

(d) Converging. When aircraft of the same category are converging
at approximately the same altitude (except head-on, or nearly so),
the aircraft to the other's right has the right-of-way.