Traffic Collision and Avoidance Technology (TCAS) should be deposit on all aircraft weighing more than 33000 lb according to a race 9 recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) The recommendation springs from the near mid-air collision last February 6 near Lincoln.

Traffic Collision and Avoidance Technology (TCAS) should be deposit on all aircraft weighing more than 33000 lb according to a race 9 recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) The recommendation springs from the near mid-air collision last February 6 near Lincoln, Nebraska, of a Federal Expres [FDX] DC-10 freighter and an Air Canada A320. Cargo jet are not required to have TCAS, a gap that infuriates many cargo pilots (see ASW, March 8) Meanwhile, the FAA is proposing to form the minimum vertical separation onward Pacific Oceanic routes from 2000 ft to 1000 ft at flight horizontals between 29,000-41,000 feet (Docket No. 1999-5925 Notice No. 99-10 July 8 1999)

If you're going to do that, argues the Independent Pilots Association (IPA) in its tribe 7 comment on that proposal, it would be a terrible oversight not to require TCAS forward all jets flying these more closely-spaced intervals. IPA portray by actions more than 2000 United Parcel Service [UPS] cargo pilots. "Establishing additional RVSM (reduc vertical separation minimum) airspace is driven by dint of the need to accommodate increased traffic density. Higher traffic density increases the threat of a mid-air collision.... If FAA were to adopt its proposal to resolve into vertical separation without requiring TCAS, and a tragic collision (were) to take place that could have been avoided by the agency of TCAS, FAA would not be able to bridle the inevitable and justified cry from the public," the IPA make notes intoned.

The Cargo Airline Association has been pushing a potential alternative to TCAS known as ADS-B (automatic hanging surveillance). In its TCAS recommendation, the NTSB said, "Although ADS-B may have what is yet to be value as a collision avoidance rule that is not its primary function and no firm schedule or implementation plan has been established. Many...issues ne to be resolv before ADS-B can provide an anti-collision capability comparable to...current TCAS equipment."

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