I would just like to express my condolences to the families and loved ones affected by this. Coventry Airport is a very special and close knit community and this tragedy will have affected everyone to the core. There is nothing more I can say.

As a former employee of Atlantic, I'd just like to add my condolences to the families and friends of those affected.

AA

Very sad
 

Whilst I've read through the bickering and to'ing and through'ing of "keeping a good lookout" it's still strange that the light aircraft was transiting an active approach ?

I wonder how they strayed there, if it were poor navigation, incorrect altimeter setting.

Very sad.

It wasn't transiting or strayed there, both aircraft were approaching to land at Cov, quote below is AAIB press statement.

10 days ago i was having lunch with 1 of the pilots killed!
A good guy and 100% commited pilot! My condolences to all the families who are grieving.

Radar Cross-Section
 

Generally speaking when we're Calibrating it's done VFR, it allows us to self-position more quickly than being IFR and vectored, it also gives us more flexibility in holding / manouevering and allows air traffic to apply VFR separation with us.

As for the crewing thing, our B200's are "single-pilot" aircraft but we are required to operate 2 crew on precision calibration tasks. There is a lot going on during a calibration with both front-end guys busy looking out, flying, navigating, liasing with air-traffic, co-ordinating with our rear-end NavAid Inspector and of course looking out again! (Hopefully)

Personally i'd be very happy if ALL aircraft (including microlights, balloons and gliders) were required to carry at least Mode 3 A/C transponders and if all aircraft involved in our kind of operation were required to carry TCAS. At present we have a TCAD system which is a lot better than nothing but still not really good enough.

Who said one was transiting? The statement said both were on approach.

Both were working ATC

Am I alone in being slightly unnerved by one or two posts on here from people who seem to suggest that they believed they would automatically have a right of way when flying an ILS approach in class G, above VMC minima?

It has been widely reported that both aircraft were making an approach at the time of this accident (I have no idea as to whether that is wholly correct, but will assume for now that it is). As such, both would seem to be subject to the normal GFR/VFR "give way" rules (neither would have an automatic right of way as being the aircraft "approaching to land" under Rule 17 (6)), irrespective of whether or not one or both were taking advantage of the ILS . Similarly, neither aircraft was under control from an ATC unit, in fact neither could legally have accepted control, had it been offered, as I understand it, as the conditions were better than VMC minima and the accident occurred in class G airspace.

The whole idea of flying ILS approaches in class G, in good vis, gives me the willies, particularly as it seems to becoming more widespread as the budget airlines move out to cheaper satellite airports. I'm in no way associating this with the accident in question, before I get leapt upon once more, just raising the whole issue as to whether it's safe practice to do this.

VP

Before anything else, I offer my condolences to those who lost their lives (or their loved ones and friends) in this accident.

Whilst we will have to wait for the outcome of the investigation to know how this happened, there have been many comments out airspace classes and flight rules, many of which appear either incorrect or based on misunderstanding. As I understand the situation, both aircraft were in communication with Coventry ATC.

Although airspace class and flight rules are not entirely irrelevant, there is a very grey area over what ATC has responsibility for in the vicinity of an aerodrome, and particularly the aerodrome controller's responsibilities for managing an orderly flow of air traffic. Make no mistake, the aerodrome controller's job in an environment like Coventry is not easy - whether issues of airspace, flight rules or IFR/commercial flight outside CAS etc. are particularly relevant will no doubt become clearer from the investigation, but if it results in the clarification the grey area of aerodrome control responsibilities it will be no bad thing - for pilots and controllers alike.

This does make me wonder if there could be an element of error on the part of ATC?

2 Aircraft talking to ATC collide on final, see and avoid aside what happened to ATC input?

Here is a picture of the RAND KR-2, she's not much bigger than a 3 axis microlight (400kg MTOW) - hard to see and, by the looks of her, hard to see out of:

http://www.abpic.co.uk/images/images/1090630F.jpg

Very sad, but these things will happen without mandating aids such as FLARM or TCAS/ACAS. I remember a trial done by the MOD's DERA (now QinetiQ) in the 90s that said "see and avoid" below 2000ft was about 99% effective if you look 70% outside and 30% on the instruments - bad news if you are the 1%! I believe that the technology to reduce the risk of this occuring again is now available and it's time for us to invest in it - unpalatable as it is to us hard-pressed GA pilots (ie. Lightweight Mode S + TCAS/ACAS or FLARM).

My condolences to the families involved...

LJ

I'd like to know how they arrived at that amazing 99% figure.

You can put four pilots into a 4-seater and fly around under a radar information service, on a gin clear day, and count how many of the reported targets that group of 4 people manage to spot.

It won't be 99%, it won't be even 50%.

Flying alone, on autopilot so hands and eyes free, I manage perhaps 10% - but then I fly higher than GA average, as high as CAS allows, so nearly everybody is below me, against the ground and very hard to spot.

And the majority of reported traffic is 'level unknown' i.e. nontransponding so you have no idea where to look for it vertically, but when you do spot it, it is way down below maybe 95% of the time.

ILS= Instrument landing system
 

Unless you are flying an aircraft with a full FD/AP system capable of flying a coupled approach how are you able to look outside, other than a quick glance?

I think its fair to say that 99% of people flying an ILS expect total protection on an ILS approach, it matters not that the conditions are visual or IMC you are flying a PA.

If the 402 was cleared for the ILS then there should have been no conflicting traffic period, i will leave the rest to the AAIB...........RIP Guys

Flying Officer Kite

"When flying an ILS one does not expect other traffic to be in the vicinity whether VFR or IFR. Hopefully".

Could I commend to you a visit to the radar unit of an aerodrome with IAPs in Class G airspace?


Spitoon

A very sensible comment - as to be expected.


2 s

Amazed how you can state that :( Outside of CAS, then anybody can do what they like, and if you are there, then the rules are "see and be seen" - whether in an LAA homebuilt, or a 747.

I fly from an LAA homebuilt, to an ex-military Jet, ex-Eastern Bloc trainers and public transport airliners. Each have their own "risks", which differ considerably, both for me, and my colleagues / passengers / other airspace users. I do trust others also (apart from the passengers), understand those risks.... and the tragic events of Sunday are hardly unexpected, unique, or unlikely to be repeated. If you want to minimise the risks, then please understand that short of full Radar Control, in CAS, your best defence (but not absolute), is to have your eyes and ears "outside" 80+% of the time. But there's still the 20% or so when it's just not your day... :{

NoD

A truly sad event...
Thoughts with 'S.P.' (and all the others who lost their lives...) you always had a smile and a warm heart...

you will be missed

In an ideal world the ILS should be within the controlled airspace but like quite a few in the UK, it sadly was not. An accident waiting to happen? Hmmm.......

On another note, the amount of traffic reports I recieve on a daily basis with "height unknown" (no transponder or simply not squarking mode C?) is seriously begining to irk me when all the safety groups have been banging on about the requirement to squark mode C (if equipped) or to have a transponder switched on.

Work as a flying instructor for a week and see how many people forget or choose not to switch it on, when they have been told time and time again about it's importance.

VFE.