TIS-B Traffic

I guess this may be old news to many, but today I flew for the first time in a C172 equipped with TIS-B traffic alerts on the MFD. Wow, what an eye opener. There were between 2 to 5 other planes in the area most of the time, and even with them shown on the moving map, it was not easy to spot them always with my eyes. It's nice because it gives you audible warnings when something is a threat, so you don't normally have to keep looking at unit inside the cockpit.

Twice it annunciated "Traffic!" and both times almost gave me a heart attack. One of them was a plane climbing pretty much right underneath us from behind. The display was showing -05 (500 feet below) and it kept decreasing to -01 as we turned to try see the traffic. We turned and he passed behind us climbing, maybe 1500 feet or so behind. I wonder if he saw us?

I really wonder how much traffic is out there that I normally am completely unaware of. I got the feeling that I don't want to fly without one of these anymore

Joe

what hardware

What equipment were you using to get the traffic? Which EFIS and which transponder?

Jason

Hi Jason,

sneedrv-6 said:

What equipment were you using to get the traffic? Which EFIS and which transponder?

Jason

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Sorry, I'm not sure the exact model - it was a rental. The display a was Bendix/King MFD display, about 5" diagonal screen. I believe the transponder also Bendix/King. I will be in the same aircraft next weekend and will find out the details. It was a late model Skyhawk, a 2000 I believe.

Joe

Yep

Yep the way to go. I fly in the NYC area and half the time under flight following they dont point out other planes. I have had tis for 5 years and wouldnt fly without it around here...!!!

Back when I was building, I passed on the GTX 330 transponder because the FAA has been saying that TIS was going away. Now I wish I would have just sprung for it. Flying around the crowded ATL class B it's very easy to get flat out ignored if you call ATC for flight following.

Garmin has a nifty map showing the locations that are going away. Mouse over the red circles and you can see the proposed discontinuation date for each radar site. I may spring for the GTX 330 yet!

http://www8.garmin.com/aviation/tis.jsp

Sticky1 said:

Yep the way to go. I fly in the NYC area and half the time under flight following they dont point out other planes. I have had tis for 5 years and wouldnt fly without it around here...!!!

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I'm in the NYC area as well. This was out of Lincoln Park (N07). Where do you fly out of?

Joe

I agree, living in the DFW class B I've had more close encounters than I care to remember, I am still looking to install a 330 as ADS-B looks to be a way off before it affordable, not that the 330 is "affordable" either but would sure like to have one

jdrumm said:

... It's nice because it gives you audible warnings when something is a threat, so you don't normally have to keep looking at unit inside the cockpit.

...

I really wonder how much traffic is out there that I normally am completely unaware of. I got the feeling that I don't want to fly without one of these anymore

Joe

Click to expand...

Joe,

Just remember, this only reports traffic with a transponder that is turned on and reporting altitude.

There are a lot of planes flying around with bad transponders or no transponder at all. (And never will because they don't have an electrical system and/or a shielded wiring harness.)

I highly suggest you keep your eyes outside the cockpit.

N941WR said:

Joe,

Just remember, this only reports traffic with a transponder that is turned on and reporting altitude.

There are a lot of planes flying around with bad transponders or no transponder at all. (And never will because they don't have an electrical system and/or a shielded wiring harness.)

I highly suggest you keep your eyes outside the cockpit.

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Yes, of course. I didn't mean to imply otherwise if I did. I was just surprised at the amount of traffic fairly close to me, some of which I'm sure I would not have spotted on my own.

I just think its another tool that can be used to help. As I mentioned in my post, it will audibly announce "Traffic" when something is a threat. So you don't need to even look at the display much and can keep your eyes outside.

Thanks for the comment,

Joe

You don't want to know

Several years ago when I was in the panel planning phase I was reluctant to go with the 330 because of the additional costs and the thought it was going out of service. My neighbor is a Tracon operator in Phx and is building a 7. He said he would not be without it. He said if you could see the screen on a Sat or Sun you'd never pull your plane out of the hangar without some sort of traffic device.

I put it in and would not be without it. I was ridiculed by several, saying I wasted money on something that was going to be obsolete in a few years in favor of the ADS-B. Well, now we hear that the new system is MANY years out.

I guess my decision wasn't that bad after all. I'm also convinced that Garmin will have a drop in replacement when and if it ever does happen.

GTX 330, GNS 480 and the GRT EFIS

I have discovered that the GRT EFIS MAP display has a greater range than the 480 and displays traffic well before the alerts sound.

N941WR said:

There are a lot of planes flying around with bad transponders or no transponder at all. (And never will because they don't have an electrical system and/or a shielded wiring harness.) I highly suggest you keep your eyes outside the cockpit.

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Though there are a few planes without transponders there are a "lot of planes" with transponders. With the TIS it is glairingly obvious how many there are and how difficult they are to find even when you know where to look. Eyes are good but with the TIS you have an extra set of eyes that sees everything the radar sees in an area covered by TIS. It is the one feature that my wife would not let me cut to save funds when I was building the plane. As usual I am glad I listened to her!