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2 x A330s within 700ft at38,000 FT..............!..


Guest Maj Millard

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4.9 nm is fine if you're paralleling another aircraft or flying an ultralight.

 

But it is most certainly not fine if you're in an A330 closing almost head-on at 15 nm per minute (each aircraft is doing about 7-8 nm/minute) having just been assigned to climb through the opposite direction aircraft's altitude. 5nm separation equates to 20 seconds flight time. Thus TCAS was just within its 25 second envelope for issuing an RA, exactly as it should.

 

And this minimum separation occurred at the exact moment the crew reacted to the TCAS Resolution Advisory. So that separation was already reducing, but after complying with the RA, it started increasing. As you would expect.

 

That is a near miss, I'm afraid.

 

 

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The system is designed with minimum standards of separation legislated for certain conditions. Ie above FL310? IF your autopilot is U/S you have an EXTRA 1,000 feet of vertical separation required. ( I mention this as an example). IF the separation standards are breached this means the system has FAILED, because these standards achieve the guaranteed margins of separation that controlled airspace provides.. This would warrant an inquiry regardless of how close aircraft passed to each other, because at that stage you are relying on luck. Nev

 

 

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