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3. SkyWest TCAS/ADS-B-IN/ACAS INOP?
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 09:41 AM
Jul 23

TCAS – Traffic Collision Avoidance System which passively displays known (from transponder data) traffic and, besides calling out an alert, can, in some situations, command active avoidance maneuvers on its own if ACAS equipped

These days the data is most commonly from ADS-B which is required on most commercial aircraft (and on all ac in most airspace)

ADS-B — Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast. Two types "Out/IN"
ACAS — Airborne Collision Avoidance System.

There is much more alphabet soup in the avoiding aluminum on aluminum noises in the air, but SkyWest should have had SOMETHING which told them of the approaching B52

Have NO idea of equipment requirements for military aircraft (beyond knowing that they have transponders, and that they may or may not use these). Do know that a Bomber would have many more basic Mark-2 Eyeball Aircraft Detectors than your average non-military plane

Perhaps SkyWest DID make the evasive maneuver in response to a TCAS callout. However, such alerts are usually timely enough to avoid abrupt use of controls. Even the "TCAS" systems available on smartphone display systems.

Incomprehensible why Tower did not make call out. If for no other reason that that pilots like to see unusual things in the sky (especially if it might directly impact them) and often then point them out to the PIBs (People in Back).

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