Todos
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What Happens When the Approach Isn’t Clear?
Before the first instrument flight lesson, even the greenest candidate for an instrument rating knows that the most basic goal when flying by reference to instruments is to avoid hitting anything (or anyone). We accomplish this task by maintaining position awareness based on IFR certified instruments, maintaining constant contact with ATC, and operating only in protected airspace. This airspace is protected by a variety of rules and regulations for minimum weather standards, distances, and… (www.faa.gov) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
The 172 pilot must not have even been squawking VFR, but even so, ATC should've still been able to follow him on radar. Thanks go to the Beechjet pilot but was the ATC controller asleep?
That's kinda what I was wondering too, but unfortunately, it's just like driving; you expect everyone else to follow the same rules that you do. Somtimes they don't and bad things happen. Seems like the 172 pilot knew he was in deep doo doo though as he backed out of the picture.
I understand that ATC does not have radar coverage of KBWG
We used to say in Naval Aviation that each accident had a chain of failure...all you have to do is break one link in the chain and you prevent the accident. That's definitely what happened here.
Since the TCAS showed the 172, its transponder was operating. The only possibility for the 172 to be invisible to ATC and the Cherokee visible, would be if ATC would filter out traffic with a VFR squawk - which is technically possible but (one would hope) never implemented since it would blind ATC to traffic that should be seen. I'd suspect that they weren't seeing either aircraft at the time that there was a conflict; they were at a low altitude that would be covered only by local radar.
Well, the TCAS was showing all 3, but center was only seeing the Cherokee and the Beechjet. That was the whole problem.
As a retired ATC worked in New Orleans Center, Jacksonville Center, Miami Center and Pensacola ARTC, I had many such occassions to warn pilots of other ac on my radar that we were not working and weather was marginal. There are a lot of foolish pilots still flying. Most are new pilots and not IFR rated. As controllers we do our best to warn pilots that we are working of unknow targets on our radar. I do not know what happend here unless that out lying airport did not have radar. Thanks to the jet pilot professional that took over the job of helping out here.