PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Typhoons Need Midair Collision Avoidance System, Safety Officials Say
Old 15th Jan 2015, 11:26
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TCAS RA is designed to remove thought and decision making from the pilot.

In civil aircraft I think this is a great idea implemented quite badly.

The system tells the pilot what he must do to avoid the other aircraft by the proscribed margin.
He is also told that he is not to think, not to look but just to obey instinctively.

Personally, If that is the way you want to go I have never understood why the pilot is not removed from the scenario altogether.
If the pilot is to be merely a conduit, then he can only add errors.
Remove him from the system.
Let the autopilot control the TCAS RA. It's what they are good at. It's only a gentle climb, gentle, descent or level.
Funnily enough, TCAS RAs in the civil world are handled extraordinarily badly. On of the UKs largest carriers admits to a less than 50% rate of correctly handled TCAS RAs.
Fortunately, there are quite correctly huge margins built into the system to protect the soft bodies of passengers.

My personal opinion is that this sort of thing has no place in a military aircraft. The pilot should make the decisions or why is he even there, plus why limit yourself to height change only?
Even the transport fleet will have to turn off the TCAS in wartime so best not to get used to relying on it.
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