Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 20, 1990 TAG: 9004200803
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
"Climb! Climb! Climb!" ordered a male voice generated by the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System built into a new USAir jetliner. All large airliners must have the units by the end of 1993.
A miniature air traffic screen in the cockpit showed a red dot, pinpointing a plane that was coming dangerously close. Ordinarily, pilots have to rely on what they see out the cockpit window or what air traffic controllers tell them is in the vicinity.
With a series of maneuvers between a small plane and the Boeing 737-400 airliner carrying industry and government officials and news people Thursday, pilots demonstrated the system, known as TCAS II, that must be installed in all airliners with more than 30 seats by the end of 1993.
Commuter airliners and other smaller passenger planes are required to have a less-sophisticated version, TCAS I, which emits traffic warnings when other planes come too near, but does not tell the pilot what to do.
Congress has ordered that one-fifth of each carrier's airliners have the TCAS II units installed before the end of this year at a per-plane cost of about $125,000.
The bill for the entire U.S. fleet is expected to exceed $450 million. Airlines put the cost at closer to $1 billion, figuring in labor.
Repeatedly on Thursday's flight from Washington National Airport, the small plane came on a collision course with the USAir jet.
by CNB