3 ms·

I was just on a 12-seater Cessna Caravan that had some sort of collision warning system, because I heard it alarm. It also had a graphic of the approaching airc

• mlyle 5y ago
  > I was just on a 12-seater Cessna Caravan that had some sort of collision warning system, because I heard it alarm. It also had a graphic of the approaching aircraft’s relative position. Yes, it's called TCAS / TCAS II (mentioned). Or portable systems called PCAS for the smallest planes. Alerts are generally disabled on the ground, and .. there's a lot of technical factors that limit its usefulness in this scenario. > Likewise, both pilots physically moved their heads to scan both directions of the runway for hazards. I’m just confused why the big boys wouldn’t be more sophisticated than this. A careful, visual scan is essential. But when you have oncoming fast aircraft, convergence rates are fast. They were 8-9nm apart, at night, when the A320 started its takeoff roll. There's basically 3 defenses against this scenario at an untowered airport: - Weakest: hopefully both aircraft pick the same runway direction. There's a "calm wind" runway for this reason. But when winds are 0 and not quite calm, do they agree? - Stronger, but problematic-- unicom: aircraft are supposed to announce their intents and listen on a common frequency. If someone has the wrong frequency tuned, that won't work. - Strongest: visual avoidance. That happened late here, and triggered an overreaction in this case.