VFR in the soup

[Captain]

It's happened to me several times. I'm taking off and climb through a layer. ATC reports traffic at somewhere altitude not confirmed and I see him on the TCAS and report that I'm 'looking'.

Then I pass his altitude and notice I'm in the soup. I've never said anything on the radio to ATC as I figure it's not really my place to rat out other pilots. But it happens enough that it sorta ticks me off.

In a sense I suppose I'm preaching to the choir because at least the guy has his transponder on so I have a better chance than 'Big Sky Theory' to miss him. I'd much rather they leave the transponder on if they're going to bust into IMC without a clearance...

Anyway, is this an issue with anyone else and do you report it to ATC?

 

[Jim Logajan]

Once everyone has ADS-B out, ATC will know everything about every target, whether they are talking or not. Name, address, phone number (and, soon enough, credit card info).

ADS-B does not report flight visibility or cloud distances, so the most vital bit of information is not available to authorities.

The reality is that mid air collisions will continue to be most probable near airports with VMC. ADS-B In displays for those busy places may be just cluttered enough to make it difficult to determine what the collision threats are in a timely manner.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Your position is a display showing where planes are will make it harder to know where planes are?

I didn't make that claim.

Attached are some screen shots of WingX showing traffic from an ADS-B In/Out system. Two of them were snapped within a minute of each other. I was using a low-altitude IFR chart to decrease useless ground clutter so nearby aircraft could be better seen. The third was taken maybe 2 months later with a standard VFR chart as background.

It takes time to scan the iPad display for possible conflicting traffic - doing that in the pattern takes time away from my other landing duties, like putting down the coffee and folding the newspaper, don't-cha-know.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Does WingX color code the targets, so ones that are getting "too close for comfort" change to yellow then red, for example?

I don't know. I've yet to see anything other than yellow circles around the targets - but I haven't had a lot of flights with it yet, either (and weather here is for rain for the next 10 days - but work would interfere with flying anyway even if it were nice. Sigh.)

There is a WingX option to "filter" out ADS-B targets that are outside a puck centered on one's aircraft. I think the puck is 30 mile diameter/7000 ft high. I haven't tried it since it seems redundant most of the time.

That'd at least be helpful, to draw your eye to threats... if everybody is black, no big deal, focus on the one or two in color.

I agree with you; viewing traffic against the IFR lo-alt enroute is easier!!

Yes it would be nice to have some visual or audio alert, but compared to the Zaon MRX I had been using, just knowing the distance and relative bearing and the target's flight direction at a glance is gobs more data than I had available.