Fog And Planes

[Terry Everall]

You can see navigation lights and other planes lights when its dark

[FILFAN]

So what happens in the dark :)

Have you never seen the twilight zone episode with William shatner?

[ajpearson]

Trust me it is easier to avoid stuff at night than during the day, mind you I know spend most of my night flying under NVG

[pistonbroke]

It never stopped Biggles !

[dhutch]

I fly planes and understand about restrictive heights etc, when you cant attend a v important business meeting thats taken months to organise it is a pain in the

But as I try and think when im drivnig somewhere im going to arrive late to, better late (or missed) then never (and dead)!

Daniel

[Fat Albert]

Whinge Carp Moan Gripe Are you aware that birds cannot fly in cloud? They aren't equipped with artificial horizons...

Air Traffic Control is now entirely unnecessary, it was only ever necessary because, in order to be able to control aircraft from the ground by radar, aircraft were required to fly in narrow corridors (called airways) thus forcing them close together and increasing risk. 8 out of 10 air misses and 9 out of 10 mid air collisions occur inside controlled airspace when both aircraft are talking to ground based controllers!

How can it ever be correct to transfer responsibility for collision avoidance from the person to whom it matters (i.e. the pilot) to a person to whom in the end it does not (ground based controllers)?

Flarm is a gadget which provides a pilot with collision avoidance information for a few hundred quid, it would cost far less than the cost of one years air traffic controllers salaries to equip everything than flies with Flarm and then do away altogether with ATC other than at airports, where, like policemen directing traffic, they announce who is first. Instead the aviation industry is heading down the ADS-B route requiring massive ground based systems to support transponder technology at a hundred times the cost. Utterly daft.

GPS software for smartfones/tablets already provides 3D navigation visualisation with airspace and aircraft proximity warnings, some of the best is free (open source). They already include terrain data allowing pilots to fly in close proximity to mountains in IMC, extend the database to include buildings and Robert's your mother's brother.

[ajpearson]

Whinge Carp Moan Gripe Are you aware that birds cannot fly in cloud? They aren't equipped with artificial horizons...

Air Traffic Control is now entirely unnecessary, it was only ever necessary because, in order to be able to control aircraft from the ground by radar, aircraft were required to fly in narrow corridors (called airways) thus forcing them close together and increasing risk. 8 out of 10 air misses and 9 out of 10 mid air collisions occur inside controlled airspace when both aircraft are talking to ground based controllers!

How can it ever be correct to transfer responsibility for collision avoidance from the person to whom it matters (i.e. the pilot) to a person to whom in the end it does not (ground based controllers)?

Flarm is a gadget which provides a pilot with collision avoidance information for a few hundred quid, it would cost far less than the cost of one years air traffic controllers salaries to equip everything than flies with Flarm and then do away altogether with ATC other than at airports, where, like policemen directing traffic, they announce who is first. Instead the aviation industry is heading down the ADS-B route requiring massive ground based systems to support transponder technology at a hundred times the cost. Utterly daft.

GPS software for smartfones/tablets already provides 3D navigation visualisation with airspace and aircraft proximity warnings, some of the best is free (open source). They already include terrain data allowing pilots to fly in close proximity to mountains in IMC, extend the database to include buildings and Robert's your mother's brother.

mmmmm some of what you say is not correct IMHO.

FLARM systems cost £600 plus taxes, latest ADS-B(IN) £200 ( I have the latest on my desk given to me when I did the Mode S and ADS-B course)

FLARM works over 3-5km, ADSB approx 500nm

There are no GPS systems out there with the correct DTED (Terrain Info) information available to civvie street.

And as for your statement about ATC not being needed, trust me it is