SUA Collision Avoidance

How vigilant do you need to be in special use airspace? After touring McGuire Air Force Base tower, radar approach control, and base operations, I’d say, “very.”

Alexander Sack

Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 05:02 AM ET

Verified

Military special use airspace exists in places to keep these bad boys clear of other traffic. Do you really want to risk going nose to nose with a C-17 by blundering into an Alert Area?

Key Takeaways:

Mid-Air Collision Avoidance (MACA) events are crucial for educating general aviation pilots on safely operating in and around Special Use Airspace (SUA) and fostering communication with military aviation.
Pilots cannot solely rely on ADS-B for traffic awareness near military operations as many military aircraft fly with ADS-B off; visual scanning and obtaining Flight Following are critical safety measures.
It is imperative for pilots to always inquire about the active status of SUAs, as deviations can lead to significant disruptions and pilot penalties.
When responding to a TCAS Resolution Advisory (RA), pilots are responsible for taking immediate evasive action and must promptly notify ATC of the deviation and when clear of the conflict.

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Various special use airspace (SUA) and the military operations that accompany them are somewhat enigmatic—we know we should stay away, but we really don’t know the particulars. And if you’ve ever taken a longer trip, encountering an SUA is inevitable. So it’s critical that we understand how to operate in and around them.

That’s why the U. S. Air Force hosts several Mid-Air Collision Avoidance (MACA) events to educate the flying public on how to conduct operations in and around their SUAs as well as provide a forum for the free flow of information between the military and the general aviation community. Each ATC sector has a specific wing that hosts the event. In my case, it was the 305th Air Mobility Wing, which is the Air Force’s strategic airlift and air refueling wing under the control of the Air Mobility Command and the senior airfield authority of Joint Base-McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (McGuire, KWRI).