Lord Flash,
Your memory has failed you; the quote below is from this
Eurocontrol bulletin (see case study #3):
RAs are only coordinated between two TCAS equipped aircraft: If both aircraft are TCAS II equipped then the RAs are coordinated to ensure that manoeuvres are compatible. An RA can be generated against all altitude reporting aircraft (equipped with a Mode S or Mode A/C transponder) regardless of whether they carry TCAS.
As far as I know there are no
combat aircraft anywhere in the world fitted with TCAS (there are some fast-jet trainers that do have it now, e.g. Hawk T2 and Tucano). I think Tornado will be the first combat type. Some of the more modern ACMI pods have a collision warning function, but they only work cooperatively with similarly-equipped aircraft.
lederhosen,
I assume that congratulations are in order. Good game, great goal, very happy to see fellow Europeans on top! Anyway:
Apart from the mandatory paperwork where I assessed the risk of collision as very low I was left with the impression that TCAS gave me better situation awareness than the tornado appeared to have as he crossed under me from left to right. We were VMC and ATC had warned me of the trafic.
Very difficult to say what level of awareness that crew would have had. What airspace class were you in? If class E or G then it's most likely a case of the Tornado applying see and avoid, and misjudging the degree of separation required to prevent you receiving an RA. The only legal requirement on VFR aircraft in classes E and G is to avoid collision; there is no requirement to avoid other aircrafts' RA bubbles. It's good airmanship to do so, but it's very difficult to judge how much separation is required to avoid an RA. The only guaranteed way is to apply at least 1000ft vertical separation, which might not always be possible due to weather or adjacent controlled airspace. What looks 'close' to a 737 pilot may well look 'distant' to someone used to joining tankers, etc. Chances are, if you thought the risk was very low, they would have thought it non-existent.