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#1
May 5th 06, 06:23 PM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Scared of mid-airs
On Fri, 5 May 2006 01:32:30 +0200, "Frode Berg"
wrote: Hi! I am a PPL, and co owner of an Arrow. I have just over 250 hours total time, vfr only, and lot's of cross country. However, during the past 3 years or so, I've constantly been overly alert towards the possibility of hitting something in the sky. It is an intimidating feeling, especially if you are flying VFR in a heavily traffic'd airspace. I fly near Chicago, and my head is on a swivel at all times. As a reference, ~12 yrs of flying, and I have had one near mid-air. We were descending from cruise altitude in a Seneca, and a Bonanza was either in a slow climb or cruising in the opposite direction. The rate of closure between the two planes was over 300kts. There was snow on the ground and it was daytime. The brightness of the snow made it very difficult to pick out the (white) Bonanza. There were two pilots in the Seneca (and one more in the rear seat) and none of us saw the Bonanza until the last few seconds. We were slightly above, so we each grabbed the yoke and cranked back. We missed by about 20 feet. The other pilot never altered course, so who knows if he ever saw us. The next flight for the Seneca was to the avionics shop to get a TCAD installed. That doesn't guarantee traffic detection, but it does help with 99% of it. The real problem with mid-airs and see/avoid theory is that the human eye is good at detecting changes in motion. When you are on a collision course with an object, the position of the colliding object does not change... The object just gets slightly bigger until the last few seconds, when it gets big in a hurry. -Nathan 
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#2
May 5th 06, 06:40 PM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Scared of mid-airs
Nathan Young wrote:
The next flight for the Seneca was to the avionics shop to get a TCAD installed. That doesn't guarantee traffic detection, but it does help with 99% of it. Do you ask for traffic advisories or VFR flight following from ATC?
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#3
May 5th 06, 06:48 PM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Scared of mid-airs
The vast majority of mid airs are near airports. Your device will help
you away from airports, but I wonder how much help it will be near airports. Also, it helps to be aware of how the IFR approaches interact with the VFR pattern because sometimes they conflict. The big sky theory WILL protect you a lot away from airports. Helps even in close. We've all had close calls though. (I've had 3 and they were all either in the pattern (2), or on the "normal" approach path 5 miles or so out. The device you have would have helped with the 5 miles out one.
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#4
May 5th 06, 07:29 PM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Scared of mid-airs
On 5 May 2006 10:48:34 -0700, "Doug"
wrote in .com:: The big sky theory WILL protect you a lot away from airports. That notion is absurd. I disagree completely. The 'big sky theory' is good at lulling pilots into a FALSE feeling of security. Any pilot operating within a hundred miles of LAX will soon learn that. Please explain how the 'big sky theory' will PROTECT you from a MAC.
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#5
May 5th 06, 08:09 PM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Scared of mid-airs
Please explain how the 'big sky theory' will PROTECT you from a MAC.
It won't protect you from it -- but the odds of a mid-air collision happening in many areas are so incredibly small as to be virtually zero. Example: If you fly in the mid-levels (4 - 8K feet) over rural Iowa, your odds of being hit by a meteor are probably greater than your odds of hitting another aircraft. You could probably fly on autopilot with your eyes closed for 100 years, and never even come close to a MAC. Even in the busy airspace around Chicago, the odds are still greatly in your favor. I read somewhere once (and someone here will have the exact figure, I'm sure) that if you put EVERY aircraft in America in the air at once, they would still only occupy a few cubic miles of sky, with ample air space in between aircraft. Which is not to say that you shouldn't keep your eyes outside, and that weird stuff doesn't happen. We were flying over middle-of-no-where South Dakota once when ATC called out traffic at our altitude (10,500 feet), on a converging course. ATC told the other guy the same thing, and we gradually merged into a single dot on ATC's radar. In the end, we were talking to each other on Center frequency, trying to give each other cues as to our location. ("I'm over that blue water tower at the intersection -- you see that?") Nothing worked. ATC eventually gave us different altitudes and headings -- and we never did see each other. It was very, very strange. But, of course, the bottom line: We didn't hit. The "Big Sky" theory worked again. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination"
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#6
May 5th 06, 09:35 PM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Scared of mid-airs
You could probably fly on autopilot with
your eyes closed for 100 years, and never even come close to a MAC. So what's wrong with UAVs? Jose -- The price of freedom is... well... freedom. for Email, make the obvious change in the address.
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#8
May 8th 06, 01:14 AM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Scared of mid-airs
This is an example of how incredibly difficult it is to see converging
traffic, even if you know where it is and you are looking for it. If I ever bought my own plane my top priorities would be to install ADS-B so I can see all of the traffic around me, and a ballistic recover chut to give me a second chance in case I hit something that didn't show up (like a glider without a transponder). Mike Schumann "Jay Honeck" wrote in message ups.com... Please explain how the 'big sky theory' will PROTECT you from a MAC. It won't protect you from it -- but the odds of a mid-air collision happening in many areas are so incredibly small as to be virtually zero. Example: If you fly in the mid-levels (4 - 8K feet) over rural Iowa, your odds of being hit by a meteor are probably greater than your odds of hitting another aircraft. You could probably fly on autopilot with your eyes closed for 100 years, and never even come close to a MAC. Even in the busy airspace around Chicago, the odds are still greatly in your favor. I read somewhere once (and someone here will have the exact figure, I'm sure) that if you put EVERY aircraft in America in the air at once, they would still only occupy a few cubic miles of sky, with ample air space in between aircraft. Which is not to say that you shouldn't keep your eyes outside, and that weird stuff doesn't happen. We were flying over middle-of-no-where South Dakota once when ATC called out traffic at our altitude (10,500 feet), on a converging course. ATC told the other guy the same thing, and we gradually merged into a single dot on ATC's radar. In the end, we were talking to each other on Center frequency, trying to give each other cues as to our location. ("I'm over that blue water tower at the intersection -- you see that?") Nothing worked. ATC eventually gave us different altitudes and headings -- and we never did see each other. It was very, very strange. But, of course, the bottom line: We didn't hit. The "Big Sky" theory worked again. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination"
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#9
May 5th 06, 10:17 PM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Scared of mid-airs
Larry Dighera wrote:
Please explain how the 'big sky theory' will PROTECT you from a MAC. Easy enough. As an old environmental biology professor once said to me: "Dilution is the solution to pollution". What are the chances of another aircraft occupying the exact same airspace at the exact same time as mine? The odds go way up near natural collecting points such as airports and airways but go way down out in the middle of nowhere. Certain altitudes are better than others as well. I find relatively little traffic at 8,000 feet simply because it's too low for jets to hang around at and higher than most normally aspirated aircraft bother to climb (at least in this part of the world). I apply the same theory when I consider whether to worry about getting on a airliner that may be hijacked. What are the odds that an airliner that *I* am getting on will be hijacked today? Out of all the airliners flying all day long from all the places on earth? My airliner? Only a stupid person totally discounts the possibility. Only a phobic person focuses on it all the time. I fly VFR with my eyes out as much as possible and use flight following if I can get it. I do not worry particularly that I might hit someone. It's the same thinking I apply in keeping a gun in the car and a fire extinguisher in my kitchen and garage. I've only had one near miss and that was on a prearranged formation photo flight. The other pilot turned into me at the end of the photo portion flight of the flight, expecting the superior performance of his C-421 to pull him around my C-210. It did, but only after my standard rate turn to the left became a maximum effort left turn on my part. My windshield was completely filled with C-421. Scared the everliving **** out of me.... That is the only near miss since I started flying in 1978. -- Mortimer Schnerd, RN VE
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#10
May 6th 06, 12:28 AM
posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Scared of mid-airs
As an old environmental biology professor once said to me:
"Dilution is the solution to pollution". What are the chances of another aircraft occupying the exact same airspace at the exact same time as mine? Well, a mathematics professor will tell you - even a zero probability event can occur if you give it enough of a chance. (There is a zero probability that if you pick a random number from zero to one, you will pick 1/2. Nonetheless, that number =is= there, and it =can= be picked.) Jose -- The price of freedom is... well... freedom. for Email, make the obvious change in the address.
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