Nikumba
August 18, 2003 at 12:03 am

Tcas

After watching crowded skies on Sunday, there were discussing about TCAS and the mid-air crash last year.

Following on from that, why isnt TCAS intergrated into the autopilot so it takes traffic avoidance from the pilot?

Nikumba

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By: wysiwyg - 18th August 2003 at 22:28

Yes a TCAS RA can be a violent manoeuvre well outside the capabilities of the autopilot and as SC says would require autothrottle which many aircraft don’t have.

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By: skycruiser - 18th August 2003 at 03:18

I suspect that the auto pilot commands might be to slow in reacting to a RA (Resolution Advisory). In some air misses, the pilot needs to react quickly and firmly.

Also, if the Auto pilot worked with the TCAS it would need an auto throttle as well. A lot of aircraft have an auto pilot but no auto throttle.