If you were to mandate complex systems like this you would effectively destroy GA, Joe Pilot at 500 AGL doesn't need TCAS and never will... TCAS itself is an aid to see and avoid, you can't maintain TCAS separation only visual separation. TCAS itself was deigned and envisioned not to replace see and avoid but to supplant it due to increased closure rates as aircraft got faster and faster, hence why it's use is focused around places where one might expect to find a jet aircraft.

And even TCAS is by no means a be all end all... DHL vs. Bashkirian, Golo vs. the Embraer Business Jet, Saudi vs. Kazakhstan to name a few, technology is not the answer, flying the wrong way in a VFR corridor also isn't the answer, flying the right way is.

As much as you try to mandate safety into flying, there will still be accidents. TCAS is great for airliners and class B airspace, but in podunk county it is still unnecessary. There are still lots of GA airplanes flying around with only rudimentary instruments or even no electrical systems at all. The responsible pilots should not be required to pay the price for substandard performance. The Colgan and Comair aircraft had all the bells and whistles, yet still managed to kill more people than GA accidents do.

Excellent post MrWalk.

Are you kidding me? "See and avoid is unreliable"?

That's like saying you want to mandate that everyone rides around in a wheelchair because walking has proven ineffective at preventing falls.

Technology is not the solution here. See and avoid is phenomenally more accurate and reliable than TCAS.

TCAS is a nice aid to visual lookout, but it does not replace visual lookout, period.

What he said! It's all the new magic boxes in the aircraft that have made "see and avoid" harder. People spend to much time inside and not eyes out. Once had a IFF instructor turn off my HUD and MFD because I was not "eyes out" enough...leason learned.

Mandating a TCAS system would likely put most of the GA guys out of flying. Most are barely hanging on as it is right now, this would devastate the GA community. I'm looking at a Champ right now with an A/S, Alt, Mag Compass, EGT, Oil pressure and a handheld radio mounted in it. I would imagine if more people learned to fly in a plane like this "see and avoid" may work better. If this sytem was mandated it would almost double the price of this airplane.

No, I'm not kidding you. It is unreliable. If "see and avoid" worked, there wouldn't be any collisions would there? Sure, it has saved my butt a few times already, but you can't be looking outside all the time. You get distracted by tasks inside the cockpit, and you may not have scanned a sector of the sky properly and thus didn't notice somebody. Perhaps you were climbing, or maybe the sky condition made it difficult to see traffic until it was really close.

Whatever the reason, it doesn't work. Now I'm not suggesting that we all get TCAS and then stop looking outside, but when you're buzzing along VFR at 1500ft without flight following, and somebody directly above you at 3000ft starts descending, you'll quickly appreciate the value of TCAS.

I'm not saying that we should switch to TCAS based separation, but it is an invaluable tool in avoiding collision.

If your eyes down, doesn't the other guy pick up the scan?

Your driving along and a car T-bones you....sure wish we had some kind of lighting system to tell us when to go and when to stop at busy intersections!

Birds have a tendency to FOD out our engines, maybe we should kill all birds...

Like anything thing else, if you throw enough money at it, you can most likely get it fixed. But like most things, money is the prohibiting factor. Doing this would drive most GA guys out of flying. I would venture to say that most GA pilots are willing to take their chances rather than be driven out of flying.

Would you apply the same argument to banning all VFR flying then? Just think, if we get rid of all these little airplanes buzzing around with no flight plans, leaving only IFR flying under positive radar control, how much safer would the skies be?

Just had an incident where a near mid-air collision was reported near San Clemente between a C-40 and an F/A-18. The C-40 was on the Tacan approach into the airport and tower cleared the Hornet in for the overhead. The Hornet had the C-40 in sight and came into the break. The problem was that the C-40s TCAS doesn't recognize the type of aircraft (or operating restrictions/limitation/or abilities of course) and inside 1300' issued an RA to descend as the Hornet passed overhead for the break. This is a common occurance at military fields that opearte jet aircraft.

USMCFLYR