Comment by WalterBright
3 months ago
I still don't know why radar does not detect aircraft on a collision course.
Why technology still does not track every airplane at the airport and flag runway incursions.
Why there still are not cameras constantly recording flight ops at the airport. Why are we relying on accidental dash cam recordings?
Why the cockpit voice recorder still does not record video.
Radar sweeps, it takes time to get back, it takes time to relay information and it takes time to respond. When you have aircraft moving at hundreds of miles an hour crossing in close proximity the trajectory can change and result in impact before radar can gather data, assess it, make a prediction and relay that information.
You must be able to do something, though. And if not, get more data.
The radar can make a prediction, and automatically send the warning to the airplanes on a collision course.
All well within what we can do with radar and computers and radio today.
Would that be much different/better than TCAS?
> Cameras
You might be interested to know that the video feed (the marketing one at least, not the one for engineers) for the recent boom supersonic flight was just a phone and a starlink in one of the planes following. Things can be done.
Oh, I know. Think of the dash cam people have in their cars. The idea that one cannot be installed in the cockpit because of the expense is absurd.
there is an insane overhead to any improvement that can be made to these systems.
Yes, it's ludicrously expensive to install an hd camera in the tower and point it at the runway, and record in a loop.
Not.