Midair Warning

On Friday, July 10, 2015 at 2:13:47 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Warning/Caution:
A couple of days ago an F-16 broadsided a Cessna 150 at a couple of thousand feet over mid to lower South Carolina not far from where we fly gliders out of Perry or Manning. The still reasonably intact F-16 was damaged requiring the pilot to punch out which he did safely. The thousands of pieces of the C-150 are probably still floating down. They finally found the bodies of the 60 year old man and his 20 year old son.
The F-16 was shooting practice approaches at CHS (Charleston) and of course was in contact with ATC and or Charleston Approach. The usually poor media coverage hasn't a clue about the relationship, if any, of the C150 and ATC.
This could have been a glider. Same scenario is easily possible in most areas of the US in which gliders fly. It's been a while since we have had a glider/power mid-air, thank goodness but let's take this as a wake-up.
It's a fact that most US gliders still don't have a transponder. Many of my glider friends with power ratings just don't feel comfortable talking to ATC and seldom do! A few of our really good contest pilots don't even have a power rating and never ever talk to any FAA facilities. Back when I started cross country soaring in the 50s
this was , I thought, okay and much more fun not ever leaving 123.3.
Sadly that is just not the case today. Hardly anywhere in the US is it really safe to fly "in the blind". I really cherish the memory of my first 20 or 30 years of cross country soaring. My last 20 or so were scary and now that I've been out of it 10 years I wonder if I would love it now like I once did?
If you are not a current commercial pilot or at least fly power mostly on IFR flight plans, or at very least frequently fly cross country using VFR following then you are probably not comfortable working with ATC and in my opinion are not nearly as safe as you should be.
If all of your club gliders, at least those that go cross country, are not transponder equipped you, for your own sake, should encourage such. There are many really nice 2 1/4 " TX available now.
If you don't have an instrument rating you should still get a few hours with a good instructor frequenting active ATC equivalent areas.
Since writing the last paragraph I opened today's mail and see that SSA is encouraging a negative response to FAAs plan to make transponders mandatory for gliders. I've always mistrusted the FAA and have seldom found anything nice to say about them, but I'll not buck them on this TX issue. (Sorry Richard!)
Bottom line for me is: The pain of being too old to soar is lessened by seeing the increasing slope of the complexity and expense of the sport.
Fly safe or at least fly scared.

ED

Do we know for sure?--Most, if not all Power Planes (Airplanes in FAA speak) are transponder equipped.
If so equipped, they are required to be on. If VFR, then squawk code 1200. Most likely this Cessna 150 had a transponder and thus turned on, even if not communicating with ATC by radio. Military talks to their own controllers usually, was the F-16 talking to the civilian controllers?
I am seriously considering installing a transponder in my glider, and I am a CFII so no qualms about talking to ATC. But I wonder--would a transponder have prevented this collision.

Hartley Falbaum
DG808C "KF" USA

On Friday, July 10, 2015 at 2:28:29 PM UTC-7, Hartley Falbaum wrote:
/snip/

Do we know for sure?--Most, if not all Power Planes (Airplanes in FAA speak) are transponder equipped.
If so equipped, they are required to be on. If VFR, then squawk code 1200.. Most likely this Cessna 150 had a transponder and thus turned on, even if not communicating with ATC by radio. Military talks to their own controllers usually, was the F-16 talking to the civilian controllers?
I am seriously considering installing a transponder in my glider, and I am a CFII so no qualms about talking to ATC. But I wonder--would a transponder have prevented this collision.

Hartley Falbaum
DG808C "KF" USA

Very, very sad.

The F-16C was operating out of Joint Base Charleston (KCHS), apparently practicing instrument approaches. (e.g. see http://www.postandcourier.com/articl...C16/150709558). I have not see any details on exactly what the F16C or Cessna 150M was doing or who the Cessna may have been talking to. The Monck's corner area includes fixes and holding patterns for KCHS instrument approaches. KCHS is Class C, and the collision apparently happened well outside that Class C airspace.

According to Kathryn's report, both aircraft had operating transponders. http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2015/0...ng-falcon.html
That Cessna also show up in the flightaware flight tracking databases, which confirms that it has a transponder installed, at least in the past. Radar and audio tapes should hopefully solve this one quickly...

And to preempt any TCAS questions, no an F16 does not have TCAS.