So if there are 15 gliders soaring near Ridgewell, 6 out of Wethersfield, and up to 10 GA aircraft skirting the Stansted CTA round its north east edge, would ASC monitor all their Mode S signals as well as what's inside the CTA?
Or would ATC switch off all the signals from the outside-CTA traffic, as another ATCO said, to reduce clutter to manageable proportions, so negating any ATC benefits? (But still leaving TCAS benefits, of course - subject to the answer to another question, below.)
Even if ATC do monitor those 20-30 gliders etc., would ATC play any part in them avoiding collisions with each other, or would the pilots themselves still be the only ones able to avoid collisions, by eyeball as at present?
As for TCAS and height readings, I thought TCAS could get height from a mode C transponder - is that wrong?
Whether or not, someone else wrote that TCAS scan about 30 degrees above and below the horizon, so even without height data from the "target" aircraft/glider it either doesn't register or it is a potential conflict - is that correct or not?
(We glider pilots and many others in GA are struggling to understand the issues.)