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As the investigation begins in the cause of the accident in the air between a regional passenger plane from American Airlines and a Black Hawk helicopter from the US Army. The collision avoidance system (TCAS).
The collision, which occurred when the plane approached the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, DC, sent both airplanes to the Potomac River. All aboard both planes, which included 60 passengers and four crew members on the plane, and three soldiers in the helicopter, were killed.
However, TCAS technology is supposed to be an effective tool to help prevent such accidents. This is what we know about the system and what I could have done in this situation.
How do TCA work?
The problems with collisions in the air ago led to the Federal Aviation Association of the United States (FAA) to adapt the TCA in 1981. The TCAs are required worldwide in all large airplanes and on many more commercial flights small.
Look | CAUTION: The video shows the impact moment: 
The images of a CCTV camera captured the impact moment when a passenger plane and a helicopter from the US army. UU. The air traffic control audio, meanwhile, captures some of the immediate consequences of the collision.
It is an electronic air system that works independently of the air traffic control system (ATC) on land, and provides collision avoidance protection for a wide spectrum of aircraft types, according to a FAA guide.
It really is considered a last resort, but is incorporated with other navigation screens on the plane and uses radio signals to inspect nearby airplanes. Then it will issue visual cabin screens and audio warnings that another plane can be dangerously close.
“It simply shows that traffic is in our location, there is a possible danger of collision,” said Shem Malmquist, pilot and visiting instructor of general aviation and transport aircraft at the Florida Institute of Technology.
And in certain situations, it will provide guidance to the pilots on how to avoid a collision, he said.
For example, if TCAS believes that the pilot should pay attention to other air traffic in the area, he can say “traffic traffic,” said Malmquist.
But it could also give a “resolution notice”, which could include the instructions “ascent ascent”, “descend”, or increase or decrease vertical speed, Malmquist explained.
“It will actually tell you what you should do,” he said. He added that current technology only provides vertical routes of corrective action, which means that it will not guide a plane to turn.
Do TCA always send alerts?
While the TCAs will show warnings, audio commands are automatically inhibited below a certain altitude, Malmquist said.
He said that many warnings are inhibited in aircraft during certain phases of a flight to avoid worse problems.
As a fire warning, for example, during the initial take -off it will be inhibited “so the pilot is not trying to do something when it is safer to put in the air,” he said.
The same goes for making important maneuvers when you are at low altitude, near the ground.
“First, you can’t go down anyway because the ground is there, and it is not getting up quickly because there is the potential that the aircraft does not have the maneuverability capacity to do so,” said Malmquist.
What role can you have played the TCA in the DC incident?
Due to the low altitude of both airplanes when they collided, the TCAs would probably have not been providing audio warning at that time, said Malmquist.
In addition, the pilot would probably have not been looking at the screen for warnings at that time, he said. Instead, his approach would have been to look out the window and concentrate on the track.
“Unlike someone reacts suddenly and diving the plane on the floor or pulling the plane … and losing control of the plane. You have no maneuver margin at that time,” he said.
“I do not know if the TCAs would not be useful at all, but they inhibit warning and alert, specifically because the risk of other problems is greater than the risk of a collision.”
