When the investigation into the cause of the mid-air crash between a regional passenger jet of the American Airlines and a Black Hawk helicopter of the US Army begins, questions about the role of the traffic alarm and collision avoidance system (TCAS) were raised.
The collision that performed as a jet sent both planes to the Potomac River. All on board both aircraft, including 60 passengers and four crew members on the plane, and three soldiers on the helicopter, were killed.
However, TCAS technology should be an effective instrument to prevent such accidents. We know the following about the system and what it could have done in this situation.
How does TCAS work?
The US Federal Aviation Association (FAA), the TCAS in 1981, prompted problems with the air collision decades ago. TCAS is prescribed worldwide on all major aircraft and on many smaller trading flights.
The film material of a CCTV camera noticed the moment of impact when a passenger plane and a helicopter of the US Army collided. Audio from air traffic control now has now recorded some of the immediate consequences of the collision.
It is an electronic system in the air that works regardless of the ATC system (floor-based air traffic control) and offers collision protection protection for a wide range of aircraft types, as a FAA guide shows.
It is really considered the last remedy, but other navigation displays are integrated on the aircraft and uses radio signals to examine aircraft nearby. Subsequently, visual cockpit displays and audio blocks are issued that another aircraft may be dangerously tight.
“It only shows that the traffic is at our location. There is a potential risk of collision,” said Shem Malmquist, pilot and guest teacher for General Aviation and Transport Aircrafts at the Florida Institute of Technology.
And in certain situations there will be guidelines for avoiding a collision, he said.
For example, if TCAs believe that the pilot has to pay attention to other air traffic in the region, it can say “transport traffic,” said Malmquist.
But there could also be a “resolution consultation” that could increase or reduce the instructions “rise”, “descent of the descent” or the vertical speed, said Malmquist.
“It will actually tell them what to do,” he said. He added that the current technology only provides vertical ways of correction effect, which means that it does not lead a level to turn.
Always sends warnings?
While TCAs show warnings, audio levels are automatically inhibited at a certain height, said Malmquist.
He said that in certain phases of a flight, many warnings are inhibited in airplanes to avoid worse problems.
For example, like a fiery heat, is inhibited during the first start “,” so that the pilot does not try to do something when it is safer to get in the air, “he said.
The same applies to the creation of large maneuvering when they are close to the ground at a low height.
“First of all, they cannot go under anyway because the soil is there and they do not put on quickly because the plane gives the potential of the aircraft that does not have the ability to maneuverability,” said Malmquist.
What role would TCAS have played in the DC incident?
Due to the low height of both aircraft, when they collided, TCAS would probably not have been an audio color at the time, said Malmquist.
The pilot would probably not have looked at the exhibition for warnings at this point, he said. Instead, her focus would have looked out of the window and concentrated on the runway.
“In contrast to someone react and suddenly dip the plane into the ground or pull the plane up … and lose control of the plane. You have no maneuver at this point,” he said.
“I don’t know that TCAS would not be helpful at all, but they inhibit the warning and alarm, especially because the risk of other problems is higher than the risk of a collision.”
