See and avoid...

Great feedback - It sounds like the PCAS is a real asset, especially
when clouds are involved. I'm saving my pennies for one now.

Lately I've been flying in southern Illinois, well below airline
traffic, but smack in the middle of a lot of VFR traffic. I'm
thinking a PCAS will be a definite help here.

I've had some relatively close encounters with airliners - where I've
had to move out of a thermal to let the "bus" through (no sense in
pushing my luck hoping they will see me, kinda the sailboat vs
supertanker analogy), but always had plenty of time to see it and move
out of the way. Of course, that assumes I've seen all of them nearby
- BIG assumption! I have observed that a letting-down 737NG doesn't
make any noise as it goes by less than a mile away...

Kirk
66

kirk.stant wrote:

I'm curious, though - has anyone out there actually been snuck up on
by an airliner? Not a bizjet, but a no-sh*t great big hulking "250
knots below 10,000" airliner? I've seen plenty of them entering and
leaving the PHX Class B, and they were never really very hard to see.
Now lightplanes, F-16s, or Lears - they can be tough and I've been
surprised by them a few times. C'mon, fess up!

We don't have the big airliners in our area, excpet for the 747s that
practice out of Moses Lake. They are easy to see, but we know where they
will be, and they don't wander far from the aiport. Does a C-17 count?
Even though they are easy to see, I've been surprised by a C-17 a couple
times during long glides.

I sometimes don't see an airliner until it's past me (so far, at least a
couple miles away) while wave flying in the 15K - 18 K altitude band as
they descend towards Seattle. They are going west, I'm facing west in
the wave - I do see the ones climbing east from Seattle.

Anyway, I got a transponder a few years ago, and these things don't
happen anymore. I will get a TPAS after the convention, also.


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

kirk.stant wrote:

I'm curious, though - has anyone out there actually been snuck up on
by an airliner? Not a bizjet, but a no-sh*t great big hulking "250
knots below 10,000" airliner?

No, but I have been the Sneaker-Up in one a' them "no-sh*t great big
hulking 250 knots below 10,000' airliners" -- except we were higher than
10,000', and moving briskly. He was pretty hard to see, though we did
see him AFTER ATC pointed him out to us, and after some anxious
searching. A transponder in the glider would have let our TCAS know
exactly where he was, and much sooner than we finally made visual
contact. No maneuvering was necessary that time, but we were closer than
I would have preferred. I hope he heard us: maybe he's equipped with a
transponder now.


Jack