Tragic Midair

[Michael]

Southern California has way more than its share of Class B, C, restricted and MOA airspace. In addition, the number of GA and commercial planes zipping back and forth is mind boggling. As a student I found this intimidating and I always had a phobia that some unseen plane was heading my way with a pilot that was fiddling with his new Garmin 530. Even with flight following I was twice sent into the wake of commercial jets. Although midair collisions are very rare, the possiblity of such an unfortunate occurence really bothered me.

On Tuesday my greatest fear of flying struck the very man that assured me I could learn to survive our crowded skies: my privat pilot instructor. He was teaching a student in a Duchess that had just taken off from Palomar airport with clearance for a right downwind departure. At the same time a Mooney had been cleared to enter a right downind for landing. The two planes collided and all three people perished. How this could happen in controlled airspace is something that needs explanation.

I recently installed a Ryan TCAD in my 260SE. Many people teased me for putting this equipment in a 182. All I can say is that this equipment has given me a feeling of ease that I have never before been able to achieve while flying around my own backyard. No, this doesn't mean I no longer look out the window, but it has shown me that there are ALOT of airplanes we pilots don't see. This does not mean that we are not good pilots; both my instructor and the Mooney pilot had tons of time and they somehow collided. We're flying in a 3-dimensional world in a cockpit that does not allow us to see in all directions.

What I'm trying to say is please be careful, and if you live in an area where being careful may still not be enough, consider putting some type of traffice avoidance system in your plane. Much cheaper systems are now available from Garmin (that work via your transponder). If anyone ever wants a test ride to see how a TCAD/TCAS works I'd be happy to take you for a ride.


Fly Safe,
Michael
97AV

[Pete of N978PB]

The new Garmin transponder - a model number 330, I believe - is a wonderful step in the right direction at a livable (get that?) price of around $5,000 installed, but it does have its limitations.

At present, the Garmin 330 will only report traffic that is reported to it from many (not most, and not all) approach control sites that are equipped to send to it the necessary signals as to which aircraft are squawking in the approach control area. Note that this excludes en route control.

Word has it that the FAA plans to add more approach control sites and eventually Center control sites, but the specifics as to when and where are unknown as of about a month ago.

Garmin has told me that where the system is operational, their 330 will report the location and altitude of all aircraft regardless of whether IFR or VFR, but only if those aircrafts' transponders are squawking; of course altitude information requires that the squacking aircraft also be squawking altitude information.

Nevertheless, it is possible that the midair reported above may have been avoided had the Duchess been so equipped. And then again, maybe not depending upon the availability of a complete and operating system.

Pete

[kwmoore]

Very sad news Michael, all the more that it involved a friend and associate. And at a towered field no less! At PAO, tower regularly issues "make a 360," "extend downwind" or "extend upwind" instructions to maintain generous separation. In addition to the loss for the families, some poor CRQ tower controller will have nightmares & guilt for a long time.

Objectively, the biggest killers in GA are (a) fuel mismanagement, (b) misjudgment of weather or conditions, including VFR-into-IFR, and (c) low level maneuvering in inappropriate places. Eliminate those through education, proficiency, and conservative judgment, and in my opinion you have reduced the level of risk to about the same as driving. But "s**t [still] happens," on the road or in the air. A blown tire at 70 mph, a truck losing control, or an impaired driver whose car occupies the same point in time/space as yours for an instant. Or for pilots, a mechanical failure, birdstrike, or mid-air collision.

Yet risk is a subjective thing. I'm sure each one of us has his/her own particular aviation risk that we fear the most and are willing to take extra measures or spend extra $ to avoid. $20+K for skywatch was too high a tab for me to justify reducing--not eliminating--an already small risk such as a mid-air. But many other pilot friends feel differently and have so spoken with their checkbooks. I can't fault their decison, especially because it has bought them or their spouses peace of mind and more enjoyment of flying. Moreover if I were ever so unlucky to be involved in a mid-air collision, I'm sure that my final thoughts would be something like, "$20K? Shoot, I'll pay $50K! How 'bout $100K?" ;)

My own out-of-proportion-to-the-risk fears are engine failure and birdstrike. Not sure how to mitigate the latter, but desire to minimize the consequences of the former played a big part in my decision to purchase a 260se. I also plan flights to minimize time over inhospitable terrain. I have had an engine failure in a rental 172, with my wife and baby in the plane, just after liftoff on a 6000 foot runway, so it was a non-event. Had it occurred 45 seconds later it could have been disastrous. :eek: God was on our side that day.

However I will likely trade my 327 transponder for a 330 next year to obtain the--limited, for now--traffic watch capability. It won't help in the pattern at rural uncontrolled fields, but it will spot traffic in busy terminal areas--such as the SF Bay Area. The $3-4K increment is one I can justify to myself.

[Michael]

My understanding of the Garmin 330 is this: you must be within the range of a center equipped with the latest radar in order to receive traffic information, but if you are in such an area you will have a display of all traffic, even that of "skin targets" (those with no transponder). Of course altitude information will not be displayed from skin targets but you will have a relative bearing on their location. Another feature is that you will have a dispaly of other aircraft N numbers if they are equipped with the newer mode S transponders. At the same time, controllers will have your N number even when flying VFR, so be very careful not to shave off a corner of that Class C airspace! Having met many of you fellow 260SE pilots I can confidently say that this is a non-issue fo this group of very conscientous fliers.

I would agree with Kevin that the much lower cost of this system will fall within the "justifiable" range of many more pilots. Perhaps the competition from Garmin will drive Goodrich and Ryan to lower the cost of their systems...that would be nice!

Michael

[Mike Sullivan]

Since Todd still has my airplane and it hasn't been to the avionics shop yet, this might be a good time to make a decision about collision avoidance equipment. Of the two ideas presented here, which of the two might be the better way to go? Opinions?

Thanks.

Mike

[Pete of N978PB]

Some clarification re the capabilities of the new Garmin GTX 330 might be informative for all. Since I have decided to install the 330 when it is available (later this Fall, according to Kent McIntire at Bevan Rabel), I raised several questions with the folks at Garmin.

The response came from a chap named Bill Stone who is Avionics Product Manager for Garmin. My six queries to him and his responses (designated via "[stone]") follow:

"Good People,

I currently have a Garmin panel that includes the GTX 327 and a GNS 530, among others. I am very interested in your new GTX 330, and have six questions that perhaps you can assist me with.

First, I understand that the 330 receives its information in re other aircraft from ATC transmission signals. Is that correct?

[stone] - Correct. The data is broadcast by the Mode-S SSR Radar sites.

Second, I have been told that the only ATC transmission signals the 330 can use are those transmitted by Approach Controllers, not En Route controllers such as the various Centers (Atlanta, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, etc.). Is that correct?

[stone] - Correct. According to Joe Yannone (Senior Systems Engineer, FAA Technical Center, AOS-260, Surveillance), all Mode S stations except those designated as enroute or BOS (Beacon Only) currently have TIS capability. The ground stations supporting TIS currently have a 60 nm range, with the plan of upgrading to a 100 nm range by the end of the year. The plan from the FAA is to upgrade all stations in the NAS to Mode-S, but for the life of me I have been unable to obtain more current commissioning status since a year ago.

Third, if only Approach Control transmissions can be received, what are your plans to include Center Control data and when are those data expected to be included in the 330's capabilities?

[stone] - If/when the FAA enables TIS transmissions from the enroute or BOS stations, the GTX 330 will receive the data and pass it on to the GNS 430/530.

Fourth, do you intend to have any future upgrade charges if you expand the capabilities of the 330 to include the Center Control aircraft data (see query # 3) and also the potential of ADS-B which you mention on your web site?

[stone] - No charge for item #3. ADS-B currently lacks definition and at this point it is impossible to speculate.

Fifth, if my understanding is correct that the information in re other aircraft is received by the 330 from the Approach Control transmissions, exactly what other aircraft are included in those transmissions? That is, will the 330 only pick up those aircraft that are under positive control by Approach with their own discrete squawk codes, or will the 330 also pick up and present on my GNS 530's screen information regarding aircraft NOT under specific control, whether they may be squawking 1200 (VFR) or not sqawking anything at all?

[stone] - TIS data reports all aircraft currently squawking (IFR or 1200) and within reception range of the MODE-S site.

Finally, will my local avionics shop personnel have to undergo training for the installation and use of the 330, or will they simply be able to do so by reading your shop installation manuals?

[stone] - No special training required. They will have to have specialized Mode-S test equipment to perform initial and biennial transponder checks on the Mode-S Transponder

Many thanks for all your fine help with the above six questions."

I hope this helps clarify things.

As for the second question, Bill Stone sent along a map of the current "Mode S stations" that I can't figure out how to include on this forum. While most of the major metropolitan areas were included on the map as being Mode S stations, it was obvious that there were airports/areas that do have their own approach control facilities that were not included on the map.

If you wish to get the map, I'm sure Bill Stone will be happy to send it along to you. He's at www.garmin.com

Also, note in question five that Bill was quite clear in saying that the system will show those aircraft that are squawking and within reception range of the Mode S site. He said nothing about aircraft that are simply not squawking. However, according to a local avionics shop, it is their understanding that non-squawkers will not appear on our 430/530 screens. This may be something to ask Bill Stone about specifically.

Cheers all!

Pete

[Squeege]

Thanks for sharing the info Pete.

The map can be accessed via this page:

http://www.garmin.com/products/gtx330/#

and "click to view estimated Mode S coverage"

[Pete of N978PB]

Thanks to you, Louise, for a good map reference. Bill Stone had sent me a different map that was not as clear as the web site you gave.

In my neck of the woods, there are some approach control locations (West Virginia, Southern Michigan, Eastern Tennessee) that I'm aware of that are not yet equipped for GTX 330 reporting. Presumably over time, coverage will be improved, although present coverage in the more populace areas looks to be good.

Pete

[witrakw]

for what it is worth, I ordered and tried one of those cheaper traffic avoidance portable units (monroy atd 200). After reading reviews about them in aviation consumer and a trial eval in avionics west website, the monroy seemed like it might be adequate and of some utility.

In short it was worse than useless. I plugged it in, mounted it up on the glareshield, and flew in several different airspaces including some B. Many false alarms "traffic nearby" with never any visual sightings or confirmation when I queried ATC. Traffic advisories from ATC usually didn't show or couldn't be differentiated from false alarms. Had a C130 pass overhead, 1000 feet, two miles away; hardly a squawk. Sat in my plane on a taxiway monitoring local traffic doing touchn'goes with no reliable or persistent signals (I'm pretty sure most of them had transponders working).

My experience was exponentially different than some of the reviews. I tried different places for the antenna on the glareshield and front dash with no improvement.

Mostly this thing distracted me from doing other things in the cockpit. Quickly shipped it back for credit . The other unit (TPAS) was supposedly critiqued as being worse in some of the reviews, but I can't imagine that it could have been much worse for me unless it somehow inadvertently started a cockpit fire.


bill w.

[kwmoore]

812KT is going back to Todd's for a 100 hr/annual (more than 120 hr already!) and as it turns out Garmin apparently has just qualified the 330 for sale/installation, according to Kent @ Bevan-Rabell. It will show traffic on the 430, and possibly on the MX20, although Kent's not sure if the latter is possible yet.

The SR20 I flew for a while with OurPLANE had Skywatch. It performed its intended function well, but two aspects I grew to consider really irritating: first, it would repeatedly announce in a flat baritone, "traffic! traffic!" in the pattern and on short final (like I didn't know there were other planes in the pattern...) which was annoying to me and unnerving to non-pilot passengers. At least they could have used a pleasing female voice that said something like, "traffic, traffic, dear." Second, a traffic alert anywhere would automatically call up the traffic page on the 430. One then had to restore the NAV or MAP page by pressing "CLR." This was REALLY exasperating when doing an approach--the last thing you want to have to do during an approach in IMC/turbulence is press another button unexpectedly to restore your approach nav info. I hope the 330 doesn't have these quirks.

So if all goes according to plan I will be swapping out the AirCell--the damn thing was good for ordering pizza while still outside the FAF, but that's about it--and GTX327 for a GTX330 and bringing 812KT back in late November/early December. I will report on how well it works, with my customary verbosity, in short order thereafter.

[Mike Sullivan]

Hey Kevin,

I talked to Kent this morning and he says the first two 330's will be there next week. Your plane gets the first one and my new plane gets the second one. Our Planes are setting side by side right now (isn't that sweet).

Mike

[kwmoore]

Very nice. Perhaps schedules will work out so we can return to CA as a flight of two!

[Pete of N978PB]

Actually, that "pleasing female voice" Kevin pines for perhaps might be programed to say something soft, encouraging, and sweet like "Hey Big Guy, you've got me turned on now, and there's a bogie at 2 o'clock."

Since every word would be true, that shouldn't be too objectionable, even over the outer marker with only gray stuff in the windshield.

Cheers all,

Pete

[Michael]

Kevin, I'm surprised the Skywatch did not have an "Approach" mode which silences all those 'no kidding' alerts when in the pattern. My Ryan does have this, but you have to remember to activate it prior to reaching your destination. Another nice difference with the Ryan is that it tells you where the traffic is in addition to the fact that traffic is present. Twice now the device has allowed me to take evasive maneuvers to remain a safe distance from traffic that approached out of the S. Cal haze.

Michael

[kwmoore]

I learned the following from Garmin (the above-mentioned Bill Stone) today:

The traffic display can be both on a dedicated page and overlayed on the map page of the 430/530.

The traffic alert "pop-up" page will only occur if you are displaying a page that doesn't already have the traffic display on it (for example, the NAV or FPL pages).

An aural alert is generated, but the installation can be set up so the pilot can enable/disable this alert through the audio panel or a dedicated switch/button placed elsewhere.

It is not possible to display the traffic information on the MX20.

I think I'm going to like it. :cool:

[kwmoore]

There's a preliminary overview of the GTX330's features on the Avionicswest website:

http://www.avionicswest.com/archive/gtx330preview.htm#2002