Jay Honeck
Member
So Wednesday we were flying into Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport (KLBX) for dinner at the Crosswinds Cafe, when we had a relatively close call with a Cirrus driver. Here's the tale:
First, let me 'splain that we've got the RV-8A's back cockpit set up with a Nexus 7 tablet Bluetoothed to the Garmin GDL-39 ADS-B receiver. This is a great set up, giving us a moving map sectional on an HD screen, with traffic and weather overlaid.
As we fly it, this RIO position has primary responsibility for chart awareness, radio frequencies, tank change timing, etc., which leaves the PIC free to fly the plane and work the radios. Since we trade off PIC time, we're both well-versed in this somewhat unique version of cockpit resource management.
On this leg, I was the RIO (or GIB, if you prefer), while Mary was PIC. The wind, as usual, was out of the South, and RWY 18 is right hand traffic at KLBX, so Mary was setting up her approach to match. We were arriving from the West-Southwest, so we were entering on a natural 45 degree to downwind.
As we're sliding down from our cruising altitude of 7500', I'm watching the ADS-B traffic as it's overlaid on the sectional screen. There are, of course, a bunch of targets North of KLBX -- that's Houston's busy airspace. Even with the altitude filters on, there were too many targets to track.
But no worries -- the area near KLBX was clear. Except for one little triangle that was moseying our way...
I'm casually watching this target, not wanting to say much to disturb my favorite PIC. ADS-B traffic has been so sporadic as to be mostly meaningless, so we have not gotten into the habit of using it for traffic avoidance. Still, this one little triangle appeared to be heading right for us...so I mentioned something on the intercom.
Mary acknowledged, and continued downhill. At this point we heard a Cirrus announce that they were "x miles North, inbound, low approach only". Hmmm...okay. How far out was that again? Neither of us had heard.
Still, I had that one target on the screen. It was coming right at us, so I mentioned it again as she entered downwind.
Now, Mary's getting ready to land. Boost pump on, prop full forward, mixture rich. Landing lights on. Speed below 100, drop half flaps.
Still, no plane in sight. No one is announcing on the radio. The target is still out there. Mary drops full flaps, and turns to base...
I'm looking at the screen, which I've now zoomed in. There's the target, and it's right...THERE. I look out the canopy, and sure enough, low and to our left is the guy on final, on a collision course with us. He never said a word, despite Mary's continual announcements as she coursed around the landing circuit.
I gently but firmly told Mary to add power, pull up and break left. Without questioning, she did, and we missed the guy by a mile. It wasn't even a close call -- but would we EVER have seen him without ADS-B?
Without my watching that target grow ever closer, I would not have known to look out the window in that exact direction. Mary never saw him, as she was fixated on the runway. Would she have turned her head to the left (as is our usual practice) in time to avoid a collision, were it not for my timely warning?
I don't know. I'd like to think that we would have seen Mr. Cirrus without ADS-B, but who knows? All I know is that this was the very first instance of ADS-B traffic actually playing a role with us in-flight -- and it was very, VERY nice to have!
First, let me 'splain that we've got the RV-8A's back cockpit set up with a Nexus 7 tablet Bluetoothed to the Garmin GDL-39 ADS-B receiver. This is a great set up, giving us a moving map sectional on an HD screen, with traffic and weather overlaid.
As we fly it, this RIO position has primary responsibility for chart awareness, radio frequencies, tank change timing, etc., which leaves the PIC free to fly the plane and work the radios. Since we trade off PIC time, we're both well-versed in this somewhat unique version of cockpit resource management.
On this leg, I was the RIO (or GIB, if you prefer), while Mary was PIC. The wind, as usual, was out of the South, and RWY 18 is right hand traffic at KLBX, so Mary was setting up her approach to match. We were arriving from the West-Southwest, so we were entering on a natural 45 degree to downwind.
As we're sliding down from our cruising altitude of 7500', I'm watching the ADS-B traffic as it's overlaid on the sectional screen. There are, of course, a bunch of targets North of KLBX -- that's Houston's busy airspace. Even with the altitude filters on, there were too many targets to track.
But no worries -- the area near KLBX was clear. Except for one little triangle that was moseying our way...
I'm casually watching this target, not wanting to say much to disturb my favorite PIC. ADS-B traffic has been so sporadic as to be mostly meaningless, so we have not gotten into the habit of using it for traffic avoidance. Still, this one little triangle appeared to be heading right for us...so I mentioned something on the intercom.
Mary acknowledged, and continued downhill. At this point we heard a Cirrus announce that they were "x miles North, inbound, low approach only". Hmmm...okay. How far out was that again? Neither of us had heard.
Still, I had that one target on the screen. It was coming right at us, so I mentioned it again as she entered downwind.
Now, Mary's getting ready to land. Boost pump on, prop full forward, mixture rich. Landing lights on. Speed below 100, drop half flaps.
Still, no plane in sight. No one is announcing on the radio. The target is still out there. Mary drops full flaps, and turns to base...
I'm looking at the screen, which I've now zoomed in. There's the target, and it's right...THERE. I look out the canopy, and sure enough, low and to our left is the guy on final, on a collision course with us. He never said a word, despite Mary's continual announcements as she coursed around the landing circuit.
I gently but firmly told Mary to add power, pull up and break left. Without questioning, she did, and we missed the guy by a mile. It wasn't even a close call -- but would we EVER have seen him without ADS-B?
Without my watching that target grow ever closer, I would not have known to look out the window in that exact direction. Mary never saw him, as she was fixated on the runway. Would she have turned her head to the left (as is our usual practice) in time to avoid a collision, were it not for my timely warning?
I don't know. I'd like to think that we would have seen Mr. Cirrus without ADS-B, but who knows? All I know is that this was the very first instance of ADS-B traffic actually playing a role with us in-flight -- and it was very, VERY nice to have!