Originally Posted by
whoknows idont
I tend to disagree with the last statement. Yes, the accident could also have been prevented on a procedural level by flight path separation. However, I don't see that as an argument against traffic displays.
As crab wrote:
I know that feeling all too well. If I get it I move my head around A LOT trying to eliminate the blind spots.
The pilot did not seem like he was even remotely expecting the second helicopter from the left.
I think adsb, flarm or another traffic display system might have very well given the necessary situational awareness to both pilots. I've had enough situations where I was very grateful for the ipad telling me in which direction to expect traffic.
"numpties flying around with their transponders switched off" will always be a problem at least until the regulators force them to. But arguably are not a factor here as the two helicopters were from the same operator.
As I said in my earlier comment these systems are very useful for traffic you do not know is there. If this is the case it may have been of benefit, however I suspect both aircraft knew the other was in the vicinity but we will have to wait for the report to find that one out.
In that environment TCAS alerts would be very common and would often be unhelpful. This COULD lead to alerts been ignored especially if crew thought the aircraft was close but not a threat, ie had not taken off or had not started approach.
In my aircraft threats are often displayed on the opposite side of the aircraft to what they are on. If given a traffic advisory that does tend to be more accurate but the clock code can be out by 2-3 hours.
TCAS is not a silver bullet or particularly accurate but is a useful tool. For helicopter operations it is not that accurate and is best used as an alert to get all eyes outside.
Don’t get me started on aircraft not using transponders. This should be mandated.
As for using data on an iPad through a third party app it is great to get extra information but should be treated very carefully. There is no guarantee on the accuracy of the data and it would be very easy to get focus on an iPad while other threats could be much closer, such as aircraft with no transponders, birds etc
A standard brief I have with pax is that they should let me know if the see anything of concern, they are part of the crew now. They love the idea of been part of the crew and you have made it easy for them to speak up.