RC-135 'two near collisions' with civvy airliners (allegedly)...
 

https://theaviationist.com/2016/05/2...ssia-mod-says/

-RP

That's a bit rich, the Russians accusing others of being unprofessional.

MM - I agree

Cos popping down the English Channel in a dirty great Bear with your transponder off is of course a very sensible thing to do....?

Kettle this is Pot, I have message, over...

Does TCAS work if one of the aircraft has its transponder turned off?

Don't think so: TCAS needs to see a squawk to know that something is there. The Rivet Joint TCAS should see a squawking aircraft even if its transponder is at Stby.

I'm wondering why the union flag is painted 'in distress' on one side of the fin. The 51 Sqn emblem manages to be correct on both sides.

Union Flag
 

It isn't "in distress", see page 7 of the document below...

https://www.flaginstitute.org/pdfs/F...ed_Kingdom.pdf

Switch monkey.
Thanks for posting that, every day's a schools day !

NATO aircraft flying in the Baltic routinely turn off their transponders so as not to 'spook' commercial air traffic and inadvertantly cause their TCAS to activate.

Now, if that's a safe thing to do when the Russians are called irresponsible for doing the same is open to debate.

I'm not sure which is most scarey; military aircraft routinely operating close enough to civilian traffic for this to be an issue, or some bright spark deciding that bypassing TCAS somehow "solves" things!

SwitchMonkey,

Thanks very much for the flag protocol link. Fascinating stuff.

What the document illustrates, however, is the 'awkward' nature of the UK. The UK comprises Great Britain (the mainland of England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland. But there is not a single mention of Northern Ireland in that document, nor an illustration of its flag.

While we are at it, what about the title of 'Brexit'? This implies British Exit but, as already mentioned, GB does not include Northern Ireland.

'Ukexit' doesn't exactly trip off the tongue...