TCAS

[muffin]

Not sure if this is the correct forum to ask this question, but are Mil rotary aircraft fitted with TCAS?

My house seems to be right under a regular route for very low flying Chinooks which I think is great, except that I nearly met one yesterday at about 200 ft just as I was climbing out from my helipad. Would a big White H get recorded by them for future reference or is it just a case of Mk 1 eyeball?

I always squawk 7000 mode S but wonder if it has any effect.

[ShyTorque]

I think you'll find it's a case of the Mk1 eyeball.

I use my landing lights to aid conspicuity, during takeoff and landing from private sites, irrespective of the time of day. Every little helps, as they say.

[[email protected]]

Ring Odiham and talk to Ops about getting your HLS marked on their maps or try making a lifting call on an appropriate Odiham freq or Low Level Common or even guard.

Other than that, lots of lights and a lookout turn before you climb out and turn as you climb.

[Helinut]

The topic gets raised every time that a mil and civi aircraft cannon into each other, which sadly happens from time to time. In most of those occasions to date the mil aircraft has been a FW I believe. TCAS was certainly raised when a Tucano and police AS355 collided, fortunately (and remarkably) without loss of life or injury.

My recollection is that TCAS was actively being considered for some of the military machines that travelled at high speed and low level. The pace of any change is unlikely to be high, especially now. On a risk basis, mil helicopters would be some way down the list as Mk1 eyeball is not a bad system for two pilot helicopter ops (unless the bandit comes at you from behind). In contrast, the Tucano pilots did not even know they had had a collision with another aircraft (putting the incident initially down to a possible bird strike, as I recall).

I am sure that Crab's advice is the way to go in your situation.

[helicopter-redeye]

Muffin, it might be your proximity to the TNT VOR which brings the big birds over you. All the Chinnooks I see in that area appear to keep over that part of the Peak. Maybe part of a noise abatement/ training route?

Surprised that they would not have TCAS? Many twins have TCAS fitted so why not large military helis, as they are most likely to bump into low level VFR traffic outside CAS?

h-r

[Sir Niall Dementia]

I had a similar problem a number of years ago, a call to the local base (Wattisham in my case) helped get the site notified throughout the military system.

I also had a few visits from mil aircraft on training sorties and met some great pilots over coffee and a mutual admire of machinery.

SND

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H-R - there are enough radios, nav aids and operational bits of kit in a military helicopter already and unless the clear need for TCAS can be demonstrated, the MoD won't pay for the trials, procurement, installation and maintenance to have it fitted.

[muffin]

Thanks Guys, that was very helpful. I also asked this question in the mil forum and the consensus of opinion seems to be that there are a wide variety of traffic alerting systems of which TCAS is one, and that most mil aircraft are not fitted with it. I will continue to squawk 7000 mode S just in case one of the birds coming over my head is fitted with the appropriate system, but a very good lookout is the best defence.

I have spoken to Flight Ops at Odiham whose recommendation was that I contact No 1 AIDU at Northolt to get my HLS marked on the mil charts. As I also get Hercules over the top quite frequently this seems to be a good idea and I will do it today.

[Aser]

To add to that, crab... if the machine needs to be deployed, all that TCAS kit has to come out again.

And why is that necessary?

[ShyTorque]

This AIC has been out for a while but still highly relevant:

AIC 15/2007