ATC traffic advisory???

Flying_Corporal

Flying_Corporal

New Member
You're IFR and IMC. Approach issues you a traffic advisory.
You reply that you're IMC. He then issues another traffic advisory.

Why would he do that if you just informed him that you can't see anything anyway? Even from legal point of view I don't see how this could be useful. Does anybody have any good ideas?
 
I'd just say "Roger, looking for traffic, not in sight"
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If It's a large airplane, perhaps to warn about the possibility of wake turbulence. Maybe the controller just wants you to be aware of the traffic so you'll be extra careful not to deviate from your altitude and course. On top of that, there is always the possibility that you could break out of the clouds and see the traffic. I'd rather have too much info from ATC than not enough.
 
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If It's a large airplane, perhaps to warn about the possibility of wake turbulence. Maybe the controller just wants you to be aware of the traffic so you'll be extra careful not to deviate from your altitude and course. On top of that, there is always the possibility that you could break out of the clouds and see the traffic. I'd rather have too much info from ATC than not enough.

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Agreed. Once I've told them I'm popeye, theey usually get the picture.
 
Because they have to issue those warnings, telling the controller you're IMC just clogs the airwaves.

Great article that answers your question and more. I recommend reading everything that Don Brown writes. He got me saying "negative contact" instead of "traffic not in sight".

http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/186249-1.html
 
If you hear warning sirens in the background when he gives you the traffic alert, then I would be worried.
 
The best way it was explained to me during my instrument training:

When you're IFR or even in IMC, ATC will issue traffic advisories. They are required to do so, and you are still responsible for "see and avoid" even if you can't see. Silly as it sounds, think about it. Transponders aren't exact tools (I've learned this with the few RAs I've gotten in the past few months where traffic was 200+ feet off what it actually was).
 
So, if you're in the clouds and hear metal scraping noises, you should turn or climb/dive away from the noise?
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I've always responded "IMC, looking". This lets him now I cannot see the traffic, but even though I cannot see it I still want to know where traffic is around me.
 
Yet another reason may be that the controller is anticipating you breaking out of the clouds and aquiring the traffic so that he may continue climbing / descending you or the other guy, with the appropriate "maintain visual seperation" to facilitate his traffic flow.

Jim
 
As most everybody suggested, the bottom line is that ATC has no idea that you are in the clouds at any given moment. Even if you tell them that you are, ATC has no idea how big the clouds are, how long you will be in the clouds, and whether you are in them or out of them when they issue that second advisory 30 second later,
 
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So, if you're in the clouds and hear metal scraping noises, you should turn or climb/dive away from the noise?
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Yeah, unless the TCAS tells you to climb...
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Dave
 
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