I'm not an air traffic controller, but I use "traffic in sight" or "looking", but at least from my perspective when I hear guys say "got 'em on tcas", it doesn't mean jack.
Does it mean anything when atc tell a pilot they have traffic, and the pilot comes back and says they have him on tcas. It seems like atc pays no attention at all to this but yet many pilots keep saying I have him on tcas
The only time it's really essential for you to have traffic in sight is if you're following them in on a visual or in a really congested Delta Airspace or something like that.
"got em on TCAS", "gotem on the fishfinder", and "tally ho" are all things that only the really cool pilots who get lots of women are allowed to say.![]()
You can't issue a "maintain visual separation, [insert conditional instruction here]" without actually seeing the hunk of metal outside the windscreen with your eyes, right? Only having them on TCAS should be treated just the same as being in the soup with no visual contact.
You can't issue a "maintain visual separation, [insert conditional instruction here]" without actually seeing the hunk of metal outside the windscreen with your eyes, right? Only having them on TCAS should be treated just the same as being in the soup with no visual contact.
This past Friday, I was flying VFR just north of Houston, just over the edge of Class B airspace, at 11,500 heading north-east with Flight Following and an American Airlines jet was called as traffic 9 o'clock, 11,000 heading south-east.
As far as I could tell, I was where I was supposed to be and he was where he was supposed to be - our paths were about to cross with 500 feet between us.
But before I could call traffic in sight, the airliner notified ATC that he had a TCAS alert and that he was initiating a climb. Despite ATC's reply that we had 500 feet of separation, he still insisted on climbing. I watched as he began his climb up through and above my altitude.
I'm no TCAS expert, but it seems as if that could have caused a collision instead of avoiding one. I wonder what made him decide to climb instead of decend - besides ATC telling him, doesn't TCAS tell him what altitude the cause of the alert is at?
Controllers in the past have told me that only "Traffic in sight" is helpful. Only then can they say "Maintain visual separation."
Things like "looking", "negative contact", "got him on the tcas", "roger" all mean that you don't have the traffic in sight, and separation remains the responsibility of ATC.
I teach my students to say "Traffic in sight" or "Roger". The ubiquitous "looking" isn't really necessary or helpful, since they assume you're looking. And it isn't in the AIM. However, ATC does want to know you heard the call out, so some acknowledgement is necessary. "Roger" serves well here.
No.Does it mean anything when atc tell a pilot they have traffic, and the pilot comes back and says they have him on tcas.
Pilots have other bad habits, too.It seems like atc pays no attention at all to this but yet many pilots keep saying I have him on tcas
For traffic calls from ATC, I now have two replies only: Traffic in sight, or looking for traffic. I want ATC to know I have the aircraft in sight, or that I acknowledge their advisory and am taking a look out the window. Even if in IMC, I'll just state "looking for traffic." The call "in IMC" does nothing for the controller from what I've been told.