Spotting Traffic

Yesterday, in severe clear VMC (with summer haze keeping the visibility
down to a mere 50 miles or so) on an IFR flight. My wife says "there's
traffic right ahead of us, just a little bit below us!" I said "I don't
see it." She gets more insistent. I still don't see it. She suggests I
ask ATC for a position report on it. I still don't see it, but she's
getting a bit anxious about it. Finally I twig to what she's seeing.
There is a very bright white object on the ground, about 10-20 degrees
below the nose. I had seen it and dismissed it as a ground object minutes
before she pointed it out, so I didn't immediately realize what she was
talking about. I point out that it's not moving relative to the other
objects on the ground, and it is moving relative to the windshield and she
reluctantly conceeds that it's probably on the ground.

One of the reasons I fly IFR and I fly between 8000 and 10000 feet is
because while it doesn't guarantee any separation, it does keep me away
from the $100 hamburger crowd down at 3000 feet, and it bumps me up the
priority queue for getting traffic callouts above the VFR flight following
guys. We flew for 3 hours down to AGC and back this weekend and the only
planes we saw were just before landing back at ROC. But my wife is still
anxious as hell about mid air collisions. If somebody else checks in with
the controller at the same altitude as us, she's almost panicing. I have
to explain that the other guy called in 15 miles north of Bradford
descending to a landing at Bradford, while we're 20 miles south of
Bradford and not descending, so we're unlikely to see him. Any
suggestions how to reassure her?


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Progress (n.): The process through which Usenet has evolved from
smart people in front of dumb terminals to dumb people in front
of smart terminals. --

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
You non-Unix/non-Mac users don't know what you're missing:

You non-Internet users don't know what you're missing:

http://www.google.com/search?q=250+k...+per+6+seconds

(Paul Tomblin) writes:

Yesterday, in severe clear VMC (with summer haze keeping the
visibility down to a mere 50 miles or so) on an IFR flight. My wife
says "there's traffic right ahead of us, just a little bit below
us!" [...] Any suggestions how to reassure her?

Even though it's imperfect, my passengers seem to find great comfort
in the on-board traffic sensor display. Its little brother (Avidyne
TAS600) is only about 10 AMU now (using existing MFD/GPS as a
display).

- FChE

In a previous article, Larry Dighera said:
On Mon, 1 May 2006 16:37:27 +0000 (UTC),
(Paul Tomblin) wrote in ::
You non-Unix/non-Mac users don't know what you're missing:

[tomblin@chicago ~]$ units
2084 units, 71 prefixes, 32 nonlinear units

You have: 250 knots
You want: feet per 6 seconds
* 2531.7148
/ 0.0003949892
You have: ^D
[tomblin@chicago ~]$

250 knots is 2531.7 feet in 6 seconds.


I've been a Unix SysAdm since '84, but your response is too arcane for
me. What is that 'bc' or something?

No, it's units(1). Just like it says after the prompt.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
I haven't had any mail from my mother since her ISP ended up in the RBL.
I deny that I nominated them...
-- Peter Corlett

Damn decimal places.... :-)

I appreciate the correction.

Now if we could only get MontJet Inc. to move a few decimal places
too...

Jose
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

250 knots is 2531.7 feet in 6 seconds.

Actually, the n knots ~= 10n fps is a useful piece of trivia.

Jose
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Actually, the n knots ~= 10n fps is a useful piece of trivia.

Damn decimal places! n knots ~= 10n fp6s. Still useful.

Jose
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

In article
,
john smith wrote:

How often do you spot traffic without guidance from ATC when you are out
flying"

How often do you spot traffic called out to you by ATC?

On a recent trip, while flying a PA32-300, I never saw traffic that ATC
called out to me that passed within two miles and 1000 feet vertical
separation. This was a flight of two T-38's.

On my last trip in a C182S with Garmin330 transponder and MX-20 display,
I watch as the display showed traffic passing 1500 feet directly
overhead, but never was able to eyeball the traffic. Earlier in the
flight, I did locate an aircraft 700 feet below and inside a mile.

All of the above occurred during daylight, clear VFR.



For my tastes, most GA aircraft have poor visibility from the cockpit.
Small windows, wings blocking the view above or below and to one side or
the other in turns serve to block out a lot of the sky. Adding to this I
suspect that the relatively high level of noise (engine and radio) and
vibration in GA cockpits causes a sort of "sensory overload" that may
adversely affect the visual scan. The extent of the effect probably
varies quite a lot from person to person, relative levels of
distractions in different aircraft, and level of experience. Quieter
headsets may improve the situation, but I think the "isolation" of
hearing protectors serves as a sort of temporary distraction in it's own
right.

I know that I spot a lot more traffic when I'm flying my glider (bubble
canopy, wing behind me, no engine noise or vibration) than in my Cessna
(no rear or top window, view blocked by wing into turn). The fact that I
spend up to 30% of a glider flight turning no doubt improves my scan and
sets up more relative motion with respect to other aircraft.

On Mon, 01 May 2006 13:09:28 -0500, Wallace Berry
wrote in
::

I think the "isolation" of hearing protectors serves as a sort of
temporary distraction in it's own right.

Are you sure you're wearing your headset correctly. The cups are
meant to placed over your ears not over your eyes. :-)

Paul Tomblin wrote:

Any
suggestions how to reassure her?

Upgrade to a mode-S transponder and then display the TIS information on
your moving map. The entire NY State Thruway corridor, including your home
airport, is covered by the TIS network.


--
Peter