Looking Out The Window

This I know: If you see something with your own two eyes, you probably can avoid it. Happened to me just last month. A regional airliner, working with ATC, was approaching its destination. I was working my way around the Class C airspace, at the center of which the airliner was aimed.

Amy Laboda

Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots must prioritize constant visual scanning outside the aircraft, as cockpit technology can be incomplete, delayed, or inaccurate, and may miss critical real-world details like non-transponder traffic or rapidly changing weather.
Over-reliance on advanced automation and glass-panel displays without verifying external cues can lead to critical errors, as demonstrated by the author's near-miss and the Asiana 214 accident.
Safe piloting requires understanding the inherent limitations and potential fallacies of avionics, maintaining fundamental flying skills, and actively processing real-world observations to supplement or validate instrument data.

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I saw him first as an ADS-B target on my EFIS screen, a simple white diamond with a predicted (that’s important) trajectory, some 20 miles away. I looked up to search for him in my windscreen, even so. I always look up and out, no matter my flight conditions. Here’s why: Closing speeds what they were (around 450 knots), the distance between us closed in what felt like an instant. And there he was, right where I’d guessed and where ADS-B predicted.