4 ms·
If you'd like to feel extra uncomfortable next time you get on an airplane, read a bit more about limitations of TCAS that still exist today. For example, it do
by gok 3y ago
If you'd like to feel extra uncomfortable next time you get on an airplane, read a bit more about limitations of TCAS that still exist today. For example, it doesn't actually model aircraft performance, so TCAS occasionally issues resolution advisories that are not physically possible. It also does not integrate with terrain awareness, so sometimes to avoid a collision with an aircraft it may suggest flying into a mountain (pilots are instructed to ignore TCAS RAs in this situation).
- ilyt 3y agoIn this case it appears it would've worked just fine
- pc86 3y agoThis is a real issue, especially for GA aircraft in hard IMC at low altitudes, but airliners almost never receive RAs because they're almost never close enough to, especially enroute.
- Retric 3y agoFixing either of those comes at significant risk because you are making the TCAS system significantly more complicated and it needs to work across multiple manufacturers and equipment build decades apart.
- FabHK 3y agoHave these limitations ever been a problem in practice? As long as one plane climbs and the other doesn't, the conflict should be resolved, no?
- Sebb767 3y ago> pilots are instructed to ignore TCAS RAs in this situation I like that you explicitly pointed out that flying into a mountain is not the recommended course of action for pilots. Humor aside, this crash also includes a lot of broken down communication, so in most cases, even if TCAS fails, a crash is not inevitable. A pilot aware of the priority TCAS has will definitely communicate a failure to abide by its orders.
- EdwardDiego 3y agoMy favourite dark Far Side cartoon was two pilots sitting in a cockpit with the caption "Huh, what's a mountain goat doing up here in a cloud bank?"
- csours 3y agoA retired Marine aviator told me "Sometimes there's big rocks in the clouds"
- seabass-labrax 3y agoI think that specifying 'dark' is unnecessary when describing Gary Larson's humour!
- EdwardDiego 3y agoDarker, perhaps :D
- banannaise 3y ago> (pilots are instructed to ignore TCAS RAs in this situation) Specifically, the ground proximity warning (as well as the stall warning) takes precedence over TCAS. This is just fine, since the "descend" aircraft in ground proximity will level off while the other climbs. You're not likely to find a condition where neither plane can deviate because the descender gets a ground proximity warning and the ascender gets a stall warning at the same altitude, since those are typically associated with aircraft flying close to their minimum and maximum altitude, respectively. You would need to have two aircraft flying level very close to the ground, at least one of them near its stall speed, which simply is not a flying condition used by commercial airliners.