Originally Posted by
F15Cricket
If your first statement is true, then, how many airliners have had mid-airs with GA aircraft?
??? Several, which is why TCAS came about.
Originally Posted by
F15Cricket
And, if ADS-B is for traffic flow, I am ignorant of why Mode 3/C is insufficient.
Yes, it is for traffic management and replaces the functionality of secondary radar (ie mode 3C on the airplane end) and adds some capabilities. Presumably secondary radar will go away. I would welcome an improved version of mode-C because it is not entirely reliable. ADS-B will be inherently more reliable in that regard.
Originally Posted by
F15Cricket
Mandating ADS-B in all aircraft will not increase safety
Correct. But NOT mandating ADS-B would significantly decrease safety since ADS-B will presumably replace mode C, so non-participants would be invisible...unless they maintain the mode-C and secondary radar forever which is probably not the intent.
Originally Posted by
F15Cricket
yet mandating AOA would absolutely decrease the number of stall/spin accidents
I agree, but it wouldn't eliminate stall/spin accidents...many of the folks who fixate on the TDZ and pull & bank until they stall/spin won't be paying attention to the AoA. There would be some benefit, but it's hard to quantify.
It would be expensive since you'd have to equip all aircraft and re-vamp the training system...if you don't train them, they won't use it right. But the real issue is political will to do it...unless AOPA, NAFI, and the NBAA decides it's worth it, the FAA would be fighting an uphill battle on this one. Without AOPA on board, it would be no-go. The FAA knows this.
Originally Posted by
F15Cricket
from what I understand is the #1 killer of GA pilots.
It's up there but I think CFIT or loss of attitude control in IMC is the leader.
Originally Posted by
F15Cricket
And I agree that mandating AOA in airliners would probably not be required, since we fly in the meat of the heart of the envelope.
I'd mandate that first since it's useful in bad icing.
Originally Posted by
F15Cricket
Actually, though, the FAA, as well as some of the GA organizations, from what I understand, are "highly encouraging" AOA gauges in GA aircraft, as they see the value in it. Again, if you have not flown with it, you probably think the wing stalls at a certain airspeed, but the wing cares not about airspeed ... It flies by AOA, so why shouldn't we?
I'm all for encouraging it, especially for the savvy GA pilot who can make good use of it. But it's too much cost vs. benefit to try to mandate for all GA (I think).