Google will show you an image of how the cockpit looks. TCAS can be displayed on any of the three MFDs but in the event of an RA or TA it will 'steal' your left hand screen. It gives a colour coded display on a black background with each tag presented with height information. From what I can tell it is pretty similar to other comercially available displays. You can also select various range options.
It currently doesn't (or at least didn't in 2012) have a HUD function but it wouldn't be impossible to incorporate into software upgrades.
It has similar angle of arrival issues to which you mention (it was recognised as a risk in fact in the risk register), hence it cannot completely replace visual lookout.
As a Jaguar and Hawk T1 man I was clearly sceptical about the need for it initially. It has it's drawbacks but can be useful at times. Puddle jumpers flying through Wales whilst you're engaged in a spot of low level evasion can be tricky to spot and it's nice to have an advanced warning of their presence. Yes I know, provided they're squawking.
Some people swear by it and will even keep it on in the visual circuit to see people joining etc but I preferred to turn it to standby once inside the MATZ.
The way that it would trip off when you exceeded the AoB or climb angle limitations was annoying but at least in the latest software update it would self reset every time (it didn't stop the repetitive AVBIT warnings though).
As for the RA thing it never really affected me. You would clearly be presented with one in the sim from time to time to test your knowledge of the system but we used it very infrequently in the air. If I were to fly in airways or busy airspace and it were to issue an RA then I would follow it but it is not something that will affect the FJ guys very often. That is not to say there aren't airliners being forced to follow an RA on an aggressively manoeuvring FJ outside of CAS however. Put simply it didn't annoy me sufficiently that I would rather operate without it.
On that note how often would your average civilian pilot expect to be hearing RAs? It can't be that often surely?
Anyway, as I have said I am aware of it's limitations but, despite these, it is not a bad comfort blanket to have. It is hardly going to max out a Typhoon pilot to have a TCAS working in the background and even they, with a RADAR, can still miss things.
It's bad enough that Tornado didn't have it fitted in 2012 but can we really still be debating the issue three years later?
BV
