Early July two aircraft collided in mid air.
- The British BBC soon reported conclusions of the Swiss:
The Russian pilot made mistakes
(bbc.co.uk/...europe...).
- The Russian Pravda reported a completely different story:
Swiss air traffic control was a big mess
(pravda.ru/...world...).
The data from the Tupolev's black box confirms the Pravda reports
(pravda.ru/...).
The instructions of the Swiss air traffic control contradicted the advice of the
air collision prevention system
To my amazement, nobody talks about improving the emergency procedures.
- It must be possible to prevent such a mid air crash, in spite of troublesome communication in the final seconds.
- Why have an emergency procedure in just one dimension (up, down), where a plane is free to move into three directions?
- Why use a procedure that is such error prone and time consuming?
My memories from sailing lessons tell me a simple rule for ships on a collision course:
- The one sailing closes tot the wind maintains course.
- The other ship, having superior manoeuvring possibilities, clearly changes course.
Things are easier on the water, only 2 dimensions and much lower speeds.
Aircraft have 3 dimensions for manoeuvring.
Two are sufficient to avoid a crash.
My proposal, a new rule for a eminent mid air crash:
Both aircraft divert right immediately.
- A simple rule it is.
Misunderstandings between pilots, systems and air traffic control are impossible.
- Both pilots can take action
immediately.
No waste of valuable seconds on communication and interpretation.
- The system is rather fail proof.
It only fails if
both
pilots
maintain
their old course.
Till
next week,
Nut
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