Cruising at 37,000 feet-is this TOO CLOSE?

9/20/2014 | Myself

[eartrumpet]

What happens when the pilot is told to ascend to 36,000 or descend to 28,000? Seems like he will go through other peoples altitudes to get there.

[rlmorel]

I don’t know...more than a few (such as F-15) assumed what you said was that case, and I expect that is the reality.

[rlmorel]

AFLAK!

[Joe Boucher]

Altitude encoding transponder device that tells F.A.A> radar where you are at.
Air traffic controllers will vector you at altitude, direction and rate of climb decent or stable

[rlmorel]

Good to hear from you, ladyjane...funny...I was startled (not scared) and being at 35K in a pressurized tube speeding at 550 mph, where is the first place I turned to for info?

FR, of course!

I was in NM for the last week on vacation (the entire state seemed completely liberal to me, and pretty poor as well) and I saw a bumper sticker that said “I get my comedy from Fox News and my news from Steve Colbert”, and that seemed to sum it up pretty well.

I have little or no Internet all week, so it was nice to read Free Republic, and of course...some of the posts are hilarious, as usual!

[Tzfat]

At all altitudes above 18,000 in the continental US, everyone has the SAME altimeter settings: 29.92. Every aircraft flying at 29,000 or above must do a triple altimeter check to remain at those altitudes.

Airliners aren't small planes. Airliners have super accurate altimeters. 1000 feet vertical separation is more than enough.

[Big Giant Head]

While going East on a compass heading a plane above 3000 feet should be at odd intervals, 3500, 5500, 7500 etc. Going west on a compass heading of 181 to 360 above 3000 feet a plane should be at 4500, 6500,8500 etc. This is for VFR or visual flight rules. While traveling IFR or Instrument flight rules one should be at 5000, 7000 9000 etc going east and 4000, 6000 , 800 etc while going west. Bt bt bt, that’s all folks.

Which, when you think about it, can put an IFR flight and a VFR flight only 500' apart in opposing directions. A VFR can be eastbound at 7,500 and pass a westbound IFR at 8,000'.

[Big Giant Head]

What happens when the pilot is told to ascend to 36,000 or descend to 28,000? Seems like he will go through other peoples altitudes to get there.

Any flight above 18,000 is on Instrument Flight Rules and is controlled by ATC. They're watching like the NSA, dude. They know if you're 50' off your assigned altitude. Any ascent or descent will be assigned, or approved by ATC, so there will be no conflicting traffic.

[Joe Boucher]

That is correct.
IFR has radar alerting if a collision course is happening.
Course everyone know there is NO such thing as pilot error.
And especially no such thing as controller error.
Oft times it looks like a cluster-f out there but there really is control and order.