We'll begin back on August 24, 1984. At that time I was learning how to be a radar controller at Cleveland Center. I was nearly checked out on all the radar sectors in Area C2. Area C2 (later to be known as Area 5) covers much of the Allegheny Mountains to the east of Pittsburgh, from as far south as Cumberland, MD to just south of Bradford, PA.
The news of a midair collision on the west coast got the attention of everyone on the control room floor. We heard that our counterparts in Los Angeles Center were working a commuter aircraft that had just departed an airport, and had just gotten it on radar moments before the collision occurred. In fact, the buzz was that the controllers claimed the other aircraft wasn't on their scope. My first thought was the controller must not have been paying very close attention to have not seen the other aircraft on radar, or maybe the controller wasn't telling the truth, because if you see one aircraft on radar, most certainly the other aircraft that is about to occupy the same chunk of airspace would show up too. It didn't make sense that the other aircraft wouldn't have been on the radar screen.
Move on to about a half year later. It was the Spring of '85. I've been a fully certified controller now for just under a half year. I'm working the Clarion sector, which primarily provides sequencing and separation of arrivals into Pittsburgh from the east and northeast, over the GRACE intersection. It wasn't a busy period...I was working maybe 7 aircraft at the time. A Crown Airways Twin Otter departed Dubois, PA and called me for radar traffic advisories. It was such a beautiful day that he didn't need (nor require) ATC separation services, but he did wish to have another set of eyes watching out for him. I radar identified the aircraft, thereby including this commuter's target in my scan, happy to provide such an important service for this pilot and his passengers. Shortly after establishing radar contact with the Twin Otter, this Crown Airways pilot suddenly, and very emphatically said, "Center, DID YOU SEE THAT AIRCRAFT!!!???" Just after that unnerving transmission did the target symbol of the other aircraft appear...just behind the Twin Otter. I had NOT seen that aircraft in time to warn the Crown Airways pilot, BECAUSE IT WASN'T ON MY RADAR SCOPE till too late. I verified that it wasn't on my radar scope before then by immediately turning my "history" control for a full presentation of the last 5 radar hits (roughly one minute's worth of radar data). It was at that point that I was absolutely positive the other aircraft hadn't been displayed till that very moment. I immediately reported this near midair collision, along with the fact that the other aircraft wasn't on my radar scope, to the supervisor, who then asked if this involved aircraft that were IFR. Since they were both VFR, that was the end of that. Technically, in that airspace, we aren't required to provide separation services to either aircraft. It didn't seem to faze the supervisor that the other aircraft wasn't displayed. I went about my work, but I had this very bad feeling about what just took place...
Note: If your browser handles frames nicely, you may wish to try this path.
[Back] [Forward] [To Slide Show Introduction]
© 2000 by Lusch's Midair Collision Investigations. All rights reserved.