AAIB November 2018
Thread Starter
AAIB November 2018
This month's AAIB monthly report is out, although there are no links to individual reports at time of posting.
Of note to a fair few of us in the Rotorheads community is the report into the mid air between G-JAMM and G-WACG which killed Mike Green, Nguyen Thanh Trung, Jaspal Bahra and Saavan Mundae last November.
There is also a report into a crash of a Rotorway 90, G-BZES, in July 2018.
The report is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-november-2018
Of note to a fair few of us in the Rotorheads community is the report into the mid air between G-JAMM and G-WACG which killed Mike Green, Nguyen Thanh Trung, Jaspal Bahra and Saavan Mundae last November.
There is also a report into a crash of a Rotorway 90, G-BZES, in July 2018.
The report is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-november-2018
Thread Starter
Individual report links available now:
https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/aaib...abri-g2-g-jamm
https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/aaib...tive-90-g-bzes
https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/aaib...abri-g2-g-jamm
https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/aaib...tive-90-g-bzes
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The report on the mid-air between G-JAMM and G-WACG makes tragic reading. The chance of the two aircraft being on such similar and converging tracks where neither had a chance of seeing each other is, I guess, very small. That said, in a world where autonomous cars can now routinely detect and avoid multiple hazards in highly complex environments, it can't be that challenging to develop and mandate an affordable, universally compatible solution for two aircraft to detect each other in otherwise empty airspace.
The report concludes: "work is ongoing, led by the CAA, to promote the development and use of compatible Electronic Conspicuity (EC)aids to help mitigate the well-known limitations of ‘see and avoid." It's no help at all to this tragedy, but I can't help thinking that if Elon Musk (for example) had happened to turn his mind to light aircraft conspicuity, such a solution would have been designed, developed, promoted and installed in all GA aircraft some years ago.
The report concludes: "work is ongoing, led by the CAA, to promote the development and use of compatible Electronic Conspicuity (EC)aids to help mitigate the well-known limitations of ‘see and avoid." It's no help at all to this tragedy, but I can't help thinking that if Elon Musk (for example) had happened to turn his mind to light aircraft conspicuity, such a solution would have been designed, developed, promoted and installed in all GA aircraft some years ago.
TCAS is available as a retrofit but the cost of it could be more than some of these 152’s are worth. Unless a cheap and nasty unit is available for less than say £200 then it’s unlikely to change the situation but tick the Lane assist option on your new Range Rover and that’s £1500 money well spent!
’Generally’ aircraft owners are reluctant to invest in their safety in the air unless legislated.
’Generally’ aircraft owners are reluctant to invest in their safety in the air unless legislated.
Jeepys
How true your words are. A certain fixed group quite recently complained about the annual bill for their fixed wing. It was £ 1800 between 8 of them, I told them if you have to ask then you can't afford it !!!
How true your words are. A certain fixed group quite recently complained about the annual bill for their fixed wing. It was £ 1800 between 8 of them, I told them if you have to ask then you can't afford it !!!
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I'm sure there are many who will disagree but it seems to me that a single EC solution should be mandatory for all GA aircraft - to help to avoid exactly this sort of accident.
It would seem to be a much more sensible thing to insist we spent money on than, for example, 8.33 radios.
It would seem to be a much more sensible thing to insist we spent money on than, for example, 8.33 radios.
Picture this scenario; Joe Bloggs bimbling along happy in the knowledge that he has an EC fitted. "I don't have to keep a lookout as I am protected by my little device". Shortly after this he has a fatal encounter with a hang-glider/para glider/powered parachute/bloke flying under a bunch of met balloons or whatever. Unless ECs are mandated for everything that flies they provide a false sense of security and in my opinion are of limited value.The EC will protect you from similarly equipped A/C but not the one that will kill you.They do not absolve pilots of the responsibility of keeping a good lookout and exercising good airmanship especially during long descents. As our airspace gets more and more crowded that means that we have to work very hard at keeping safe in the air; you cannot anymore drift around, opposable digit in fundamental orifice, just admiring the scenery.
Dickmct,
i dont disagree with you, however, in this case if EC, Tcas, etc was mandatory then perhaps we would not be talking about it now. What TCAS shows you is how many aircraft you missed. I have used it for many years and sometimes I feel vulnerable without it.
People who say you don't need it obviously have never used it.
i dont disagree with you, however, in this case if EC, Tcas, etc was mandatory then perhaps we would not be talking about it now. What TCAS shows you is how many aircraft you missed. I have used it for many years and sometimes I feel vulnerable without it.
People who say you don't need it obviously have never used it.
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I don't disagree either. Unless everything flying in the same airspace has mutually compatible EC systems (i.e. which see and can be seen by everything else) then they are of limited value (as currently). Equally I agree that they do not absolve pilots of the responsibility of keeping a good lookout. But the technology really isn't that complicated or expensive any more and I'm sure it would have given these four people a better chance.
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Can't speak to what's going on elsewhere, but I have to say that in my neck of the woods, the USA, I've found having ADS-B TIS-B services in the cockpit a real game changer. Not to mention eye opener. I used to pride myself on a sharp lookout, but now I realize how much I, and everyone else for that matter, has been missing. With the ADS-B mandate deadline coming the end of 2020, having nearly ubiquitous equipage will be almost a reality (there are some exceptions). Of course, many will cheap out and not have ADS-B "in", only the mandated "out", but once you fly with TIS-B services it is hard to go back to not having them, you feel really blind.
I've been using GTX345 sourced TIS-B, both as displayed on the GNS420 and on the tablet I often fly with, since Sep 2017. It has become part of my scan, and when something or someone starts to get close on the traffic display my external scanning definitely gets more focused on that part of the sky. I'm seeing more, faster, than I ever did.
On a somewhat humorous note, many US pilots, in a typical display of US "lese majeste", when maneuvering and communicating around uncontrolled airfields, will now say "I've got you on the fishfinder" as part of the general aviation pilot patois. I prefer "traffic display" or "TIS-B", and no substitute for the Mark One Eyeball, but still it's nice to know you are being seen somehow.
Of course it is not all perfect. I've had aircraft pop up out of valleys and from behind hills at very close range and surprise both me and the GTX345, which will only announce "Traffic! Traffic!" when so surprised. But it's so much better than not having it at all.
I've been using GTX345 sourced TIS-B, both as displayed on the GNS420 and on the tablet I often fly with, since Sep 2017. It has become part of my scan, and when something or someone starts to get close on the traffic display my external scanning definitely gets more focused on that part of the sky. I'm seeing more, faster, than I ever did.
On a somewhat humorous note, many US pilots, in a typical display of US "lese majeste", when maneuvering and communicating around uncontrolled airfields, will now say "I've got you on the fishfinder" as part of the general aviation pilot patois. I prefer "traffic display" or "TIS-B", and no substitute for the Mark One Eyeball, but still it's nice to know you are being seen somehow.
Of course it is not all perfect. I've had aircraft pop up out of valleys and from behind hills at very close range and surprise both me and the GTX345, which will only announce "Traffic! Traffic!" when so surprised. But it's so much better than not having it at all.
