Based on the videos of near misses on YouTube, the safety margins are so enormous that even an event classified as near miss is not really recognizable by a layperson, because the two airplanes are nowhere near each other.
The NYT article points to at least one case where the planes almost scraped skin to skin.
Absolutely. But when the two objects are flying at 600 mph…
We need Mentour Pilot or 74 Gear to make a video tearing apart all the fear mongering in this article (not saying it’s totally invalid, but it’s massively overblown). But basically, a “near miss” in commercial aviation is “this plane momentarily transgressed the very generous mandated safety distances and triggered a resolution advisory in the cockpit of both aircraft which was complied with immediately.” It is by no means equivalent to a “near colission” like they imply. The worst part of the ordeal was probably the reports the pilots and ATC had to file afterward.
Immediately from the headline my first reaction was “well, the rate of actual collisions is near 0”, so either they’re very good at dodging each other, or what they deem as a “near collision” is actually quite a wide berth.
But then, this is the journalistic integrity we’ve come to expect from gizmodo.
I experienced what they’re talking about. Plane was coming in to land. Suddenly the engines revved to the max and we tilted up. We flew right past the airport. The captain came in the com and said “Ladies and gentlemen you may have noticed we did not land. A Delta flight was on the runway where it should not have been. At delta they’re still learning to fly, and it shows!”
You could tell from his voice that he was pissed. To be fair I doubt he knew for sure it was pilot error instead of controller error. But anyway.
These people don’t know how TCAS works lol
No mention of the TCAS? Education time.
The ICAO requires all passenger aircraft to be equipped with TCAS - Traffic Collision Avoidance System. It is a last line of defense to avoid collision. When two TCAS-equipped airplanes are on a collision course, the TCAS modules will contact each other and negotiate, then issue corrective actions to their respective pilots - one to ascend, and the other to descend. Responding to a TCAS command is mandatory and overrules ATC instructions.
TCAS is the last resort. If that’s being activated, it means Air Traffic Control screwed up. The NYT reporting talked about how ATC is making more and more mistakes due to staffing issues.
I didn’t want to know that.
The article is clickbait. The margins of range for “near miss” is enormous to ensure such things don’t happen. A “near miss” is usually still miles and miles apart, and only registers because two flights may be at the same altitude to avoid weather.
And just to think, some people actually think flying cars are a good idea… 🤦♂️
On one hand, flying is incredibly safe compared to all other forms of travel.
On the other hand, jet engines burn a lot of fossil fuel and wrecks the global clime. We’re working on that.
It’s grounds to get harassed by the TSA if you’re a minority or some official doesn’t like you or you wound up on some list. We’re working towards making this even worse.
