TPAS experiences - good, bad, and ugly

I'd like to hear what pilots with TPAS think about them; for example:

* can you always avoid airliners and smaller airplanes?
* are these a good/lousy substitute for a transponder?
* how do they work out in the "highly congested areas" Tim mentions?
* do you wish you had a transponder anyway?
* is it distracting?
* is it useful/worthless when flying with transponder equipped gliders?
* are the $300 units worth it?
* are $900 units worth it?

I have a transponder, but maybe I should have one more gadget (you'll
know I'm going senile when you see me _removing_ a gadget every six
months, instead of adding one!)


Tim Mara wrote:
if you're not talking with ATC in these highly congested areas you are still
putting yourself and others at risk.........not every other plane in this
area will be talking with ATC or have a TCAS system on board ...... if you
want simple and inexpensive traffic avoidance look beyond simply squawking
in the blind but look also at the TPAS systems....far better than having the
Fed's tell us we all need to have transponders installed to fly "anywhere"
tim


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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

I've been in one and had a very close call with an "ub"
while the "pilot" on that side was fooling with it.

The same "pilot" while flying in that aircraft near missed me
in another aircraft while I was leaving the pattern
and he was entering. My aircraft had no transponder.

A different aircraft and pilot combination had one, and
had a massive bird strike at Oakland on departure.
Dunno if the TPAS/proximity alerter, etc. helped or hurt.

I suspect they work fantastic when you restrict your flight
to above 10,000 ft, or inside of B and C airspace, or within mode
C rings. This is what airliners do. Except for the
occasional sailplane or ultralight in their path,
airline pilots seem tightly glued looking inside the cockpit.

In article ,
Eric Greenwell wrote:
I'd like to hear what pilots with TPAS think about them; for example:

* can you always avoid airliners and smaller airplanes?
* are these a good/lousy substitute for a transponder?
* how do they work out in the "highly congested areas" Tim mentions?
* do you wish you had a transponder anyway?
* is it distracting?
* is it useful/worthless when flying with transponder equipped gliders?
* are the $300 units worth it?
* are $900 units worth it?

I have a transponder, but maybe I should have one more gadget (you'll
know I'm going senile when you see me _removing_ a gadget every six
months, instead of adding one!)


Tim Mara wrote:
if you're not talking with ATC in these highly congested areas you are still
putting yourself and others at risk.........not every other plane in this
area will be talking with ATC or have a TCAS system on board ...... if you
want simple and inexpensive traffic avoidance look beyond simply squawking
in the blind but look also at the TPAS systems....far better than having the
Fed's tell us we all need to have transponders installed to fly "anywhere"
tim


--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA


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Mark J. Boyd