Aviation Near Miss Distances?

[Guest victorwest]

In rare instances in the UK there may be a news report that mentions such and such airline had a near miss with so and so airline. The report may go on to say, for example, they missed by 300 feet. I was just wondering if these distances are guessimates or whether the aircraft or ground radar has equipment that can measure distances from other aircraft with accuracy?Victor

[michal 44]

Ground radar tracks you all the time, plus altitude - everything is recorded so you can replay the situation and see what was the minimal seperation.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

[Guest jrewing]

Hi Victor,Not sure how things work in the U.K., but in the U.S. a near mid-air collision is defined as when two aircraft pass within 500' of one another. For the event to be recorded as a near mid-air, one of the flight crew members has to say on frequency "I wish to report a near mid-air collision" before the gears start turning. It is the responsibility of the flight crews involved, not the controller, to initiate the process.You can read more at:http://www.faa.gov/atpubs/AIM/Chap7/aim0706.html#7-6-3My experience is that controllers won't call attention to these sorts of events on frequency, especially if they (the controller) were responsible for ensuring separation since doing so might make them the subject of an enforcement action. Pilots, in my experience, tend to let these things go with an off-hand remark like "that was a bit too close," unless it was particularly frightening or unless they feel the controller wasn't doing his/her job properly.So if there is a near mid-air and neither flight crew makes a stink, it won't get reported to the FAA. Pilots and controllers may file an ASRS report, though ... You can read about ASRS at:http://www.faa.gov/atpubs/AIM/Chap7/aim0706.html#7-6-1Again, I don't know how things are done in the U.K.John

[Sonar5 3]

Controllers won't call it because it's mostly the pilots fault, (Their version, IMHO) That way they shed accountability, as it is mostly the PIC that takes the fall.Besides it's a big sky. I don't call near misses when some moron cuts me off on the I-15 so she/he can get home 30 seconds quicker. :-)Just an observation.Regards,JoeJOIN The AVSIM RTW RACE FLIGHT TEAM****************Grab My FREEWARE Cessna 172 Voice recognition Profile here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]

[victorwest2 0]

Many thanks for the answers.