The Honorable James E. Hall, Chairman
National Transportation Safety Board
800 Independence Ave. S. W.
Washington, DC 20594

Re: Reconsideration in "Probable Cause" of San Luis Obispo midair collision.

Dear Mr. Hall,

In consideration of the Midair Collision of Wings West Airlines Beech C-99 (N6399U) and Aesthetec, Inc., Rockwell Commander 112TC (N112SM) near San Luis Obispo, California on August 24, 1984,

and in accordance with 49 CFR 845.41,

I, Thomas G. Lusch, as a private citizen with a keen interest in this accident as it relates to acceptable risk within our air traffic control system, do hereby petition for reconsideration in the Board's findings relating to the air traffic controller(s).

In the "Probable Cause," it was stated...

Also underlying the accident was the short time available to the controller to detect and appraise radar data and to issue a safety advisory.

Conventional wisdom leads us to believe that if an aircraft is detected by radar, surely it will be displayed to the air traffic controller. That is not always the case. I am of the belief that the Board acted without sufficient knowledge of the radar data processing methods inherent in today's Air Route Traffic Control Centers, and thereby made an erroneous finding. Regarding that, I have prepared a web site, and hereby request that the NTSB visit my site in this Petition for Reconsideration of Probable Cause. The web site can be found at http://home.columbus.rr.com/lusch.

Sincerely,

 

Thomas G. Lusch

tomlusch@columbus.rr.com

Lusch's Midair Collision Investigations

http://home.columbus.rr.com/lusch

 

TGL/mac

cc:

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)

Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA)

Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA)

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA)

Wings West Airlines

[See reply from NTSB, dated April 4, 2000]

This page created Feb 25, 2000, updated April 8, 2000.

© 2000 by Lusch's Midair Collision Investigations. All rights reserved.