Speedbird
Bird of Pray
My mother's cousin sent me an email with this in it. I'll just post what he wrote about TCAS as general interest. He is from "The Greatest Generation" and also worked on the space shuttle.
I installed TCAS ON DC 9s it while working avionics for a major airline which shall remain nameless.
He wrote:
Fascinating show by Airbus (see link at bottom). Once in a life time, I'm sure. Video of five A350's flying in close formation. Of course I have to tell a personal experience, as usual. Would have given my kingdom for a camera that I forgotten to bring along on this test flight. While working for Bendix installing and certifying TCAS (Traffic Collision and Avoidance System), after retiring from AAL, American wanted a demonstration of the effectiveness of our system. So after the first installation in a B757, we joined up in flight in our company Sabreliner with the B757 in dedicated airspace over South Texas, flying wing tip to wing tip to calibrate our instruments, primarily the Altimeters .Looking at the very close formation and seeing the eyes of the B757 Captain watching us closely was a unique experience. We then diverted and flew various collision scenarios to demonstrate the alarm point, including head-on approach at a relative speed of 800 knots, commanding one to dive and the other to climb (hopefully). We had a 300' off-set programmed into the system in case something failed to function properly. It worked correctly every time. I'll bet you want to know how it decides which evasive action to take if both aircraft are at the exact same altitude, right? Ask, and I'll tell you.
There has been only one collision of equiped aircraft since worlsd wide system installation was completed 20 years ago. That one was due to the air traffic controller on the ground sensed the conflict and directed one aircraft to dive, while the TCAS system told it to climb. The pilot obeyed the ground controller, and a collision occurred. This happened over Germany.
Unfortunately I had no camera with me to record our TCAS tests. The American Captain was a F-4 fighter pilot in Vietnam and flew the B757 like it was a F-4.
Such memories.
http://youtu.be/gI4jWYZLeHQ
I installed TCAS ON DC 9s it while working avionics for a major airline which shall remain nameless.
He wrote:
Fascinating show by Airbus (see link at bottom). Once in a life time, I'm sure. Video of five A350's flying in close formation. Of course I have to tell a personal experience, as usual. Would have given my kingdom for a camera that I forgotten to bring along on this test flight. While working for Bendix installing and certifying TCAS (Traffic Collision and Avoidance System), after retiring from AAL, American wanted a demonstration of the effectiveness of our system. So after the first installation in a B757, we joined up in flight in our company Sabreliner with the B757 in dedicated airspace over South Texas, flying wing tip to wing tip to calibrate our instruments, primarily the Altimeters .Looking at the very close formation and seeing the eyes of the B757 Captain watching us closely was a unique experience. We then diverted and flew various collision scenarios to demonstrate the alarm point, including head-on approach at a relative speed of 800 knots, commanding one to dive and the other to climb (hopefully). We had a 300' off-set programmed into the system in case something failed to function properly. It worked correctly every time. I'll bet you want to know how it decides which evasive action to take if both aircraft are at the exact same altitude, right? Ask, and I'll tell you.
There has been only one collision of equiped aircraft since worlsd wide system installation was completed 20 years ago. That one was due to the air traffic controller on the ground sensed the conflict and directed one aircraft to dive, while the TCAS system told it to climb. The pilot obeyed the ground controller, and a collision occurred. This happened over Germany.
Unfortunately I had no camera with me to record our TCAS tests. The American Captain was a F-4 fighter pilot in Vietnam and flew the B757 like it was a F-4.
Such memories.
http://youtu.be/gI4jWYZLeHQ
