This is a truly horrible accident: I still haven’t had the courage to listen to the audio but have been following the extensive discussion of it on COPA where a thread has been running for several hours now.
In answer to your question: possibly, but not for sure.
The Cirrus involved in this accident may very well have had Skywatch. The system does, however, suffer from three potential drawbacks:
1. It is susceptible to antenna masking, especially when the target is immediately below
2. It is disabled when flaps are selected to avoid nuisance alerts (this accident was in the traffic circuit at a very busy towered but non-radar airport)
3. There is a lag in the display of the target’s position.
I have the system in my own aircraft and, whilst I am happy to use it to identify potential conflicts whilst they are still a mile or two or more away, I would certainly not rely on it to provide precise location information on a close in target.
Only the AUDIO is disabled with the flaps down, not the system itself, and afaik only in certain configurations. It seems that this SR22 is a GTS version (looks identical to mine actually) – so it should have the L3 Skywatch system. The masking is a a serious problem of these systems though. I had a very clouse encounter ten days ago … but i don’t know if the xpdr was off.
Don’t listen to it. It’s really bad and i will think about it a long time. Nothing to learn from it either …
Disabling audio with flaps down is a seriously bad thing, not least because you might have flaps down a long way from the airport (e.g. at GS intercept).
Without audio the system is nearly useless because nobody is going to be watching the display when in the circuit.
Even if the azimuth is unreliable, getting a “traffic, less than half a mile, same altitude” would make me immediately climb at full power, and I have avoided a number of very close encounters in the circuit by doing that. You never bet against known odds, and a €10-15k system telling you that you are likely to die is pretty well “known odds”.
I am not sure, maybe it’s only off with full flaps. Have to check that one. Anyway, They symbols on the MFF are pretty big and you see hem immediately. And there’s also a yellow popup window (with the Avidyne cockpit) that shows closer traffic.
The did that because it is very distracting if the system starts screaming while you are on short final in IMC, because that’s when it starts receiving the transponders on the ground!
What % of helicopters have a Mode C transponder
Here I guess the figure will be close to 100%. Many helicopters are used for training and low flying aerial work and they want to be Seen on radar, especially by low flying military traffic, because they are difficult to see visually.
And regarding the opening question: TCAS (the only system I am familiar with) would have prevented this collision. It has an intelligent way to inhibit aural warnings, but this one would have come through.
Regarding the video: if this ever Happens to me, I hope I won’t press the transmit button. I would not wish my death scream to become an attraction on youtube for all eternity.
Same in the US, I don’t think I’ve seen a helicopter without a Mode C transponder. I can imagine there are a few old Bell 47s with nothing but a com, flown infrequently, but a helicopter that’s flown much is generally flown within Mode C veils etc.
From my POH:
Serials 1602, 1644, 1663 and subsequent: To minimize pilot
distraction, Skywatch system sensitivity will automatically be
set to level B (reduced) and aural warnings will be inhibited
when flaps are set to 50% and 100%.
(Mine is serial number 2206)
I guess if you follow the Flight Operations Manual you are usually on base leg when you set flaps 50. i will definitely try to set flaps as late as possible – now that i read this. Probably read it before but probably didn’t take it serious.
I agree, what next, youtube should take it off, or delete the death scream part …
youtube should take it off
Anybody interested will have already downloaded that video…
That’s why, in any other context regarding the internet, wanting to delete anything that one has posted is a waste of time, because you can be sure that if it really is embarrassing (or whatever) somebody has already grabbed a copy and it will just pop up elsewhere.
Interestingly, in the UK, recording ATC is in theory illegal…
i will definitely try to set flaps as late as possible – now that i read this
What flap setting do you select on the SR22 at GS intercept (i.e. at the IAP platform altitude)?
According to this:
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/10/23/helicopter-small-plane-collide-at-frederick-airport/
Aircraft occupant survived and have been released from hospital. Unfortunately the helicopter occupants lost their life.
I wish I didn’t listen to it…
