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