AUSTRALIA's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) plans to order the use of the traffic-alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS) for transport aircraft.
CASA has circulated an industry discussion paper following a 1995 Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) report recommending that TCAS be compulsory for all public-transport Australian aircraft.
The discussion paper looks at seven options, which include:
fitting TCAS 2 to all jets and turboprops over 5,700kg maximum take-off weight, or with 19 seats, affecting about 215 aircraft;
fitting TCAS 2 to commercial jets and turboprops with over 30 seats, and TCAS 1 to commercial jets and turboprops with from ten to 30 seats, affecting about 205 aircraft in either category;
fitting TCAS 2 to commercial jets with over 30 seats and TCAS 1 to commercial jets and turboprops with over ten seats, affecting about 130 and 280 aircraft, respectively.
At least six recent serious incidents in Australian airspace have involved head-on traffic at the same altitude in cruise on major airways, each apparently caused by incorrect air-traffic-control clearances and resolved only because one of the aircraft was equipped with TCAS.
Source: Flight International
