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What causes in-flight collisions? Undoubtedly, increasing traffic and higher
closing speeds represent potential. For instance, a jet and a light twin have a
closing speed of about 750 mph. It takes a minimum of 10 seconds, says the FAA. for
a pilot to spot traffic, identify it, realize it is a collision threat, react, and
have the aircraft respond. But two planes converging at 750 mph will be less than
10 seconds apart when the pilots are first to detect each other!
These are all causal factors, but the reason most often noted in the statistics reads:
"Failure of pilot to see other aircraft," which means that the see-and-avoid
system broke down. In most cases, at least one of the pilots involved could have seen
the other in time to avoid contact, if he or she had just been using the visual senses
properly. In sum, it is really that complex, vulnerable little organ - the human eye-
which is the leading cause of inflight collisions.
Let's take a look at how its limitations affect your flight.
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