See And Avoid.org Designed To Help GA Pilots Avoid Midair
Collisions Through Proper Flight Planning
The FAA, in conjunction with the Department of Defense, has
launched the "See and Avoid" website on FAASafety.gov.
Originally created by the Air National Guard Aviation Safety
Division and funded by the Defense Safety Oversight Council, it now
includes all military services. Our goal is to eliminate midair
collisions and reduce close calls through continuous flight safety
and proper flight planning. By promoting information exchange
between civilian pilots and the military flight safety community,
we hope to provide one-stop shopping to help all of us safely share
the skies.
This portal will allow users to find and link to all existing
military Mid-Air Collision Avoidance (MACA) programs in a single
web site, while also enjoying new access to information from
military bases that did not previously have web-based content.
Since 1978, there has been an average of 30 midair collisions in
the United States each year. These collisions resulted in an
average of 75 deaths per year. There are also over 450 Near Midair
Collisions (NMACs) reported each year; no one can calculate the
number that have gone unreported! As recently as February, 2006 a
civilian pilot was killed in a single plane crash after colliding
with an Air Force jet. In many cases, one or both of the
aircraft are not aware that a midair collision nearly occurred.
Particularly in cases where military and civilian aircraft come
into close proximity, lack of basic information regarding military
flight characteristics creates problems among civilian pilots. FAA
regulations and EAA guidelines just aren't enough.
The SeeAndAvoid.org portal offers a centralized, credible
website that provides civilian and military pilots with reciprocal
information and education on airspace, visual identification,
aircraft performance, and mutual hazards to safe flight - with the
ultimate goal of eliminating midair collisions and reducing the
number of close calls. After all, what price can be put on proper
flight safety and flight planning?
This portal is targeting two user groups. The first group is
General Aviation (GA) Pilots, who we encourage to include
SeeAndAvoid.org as part of their flight planning. From weather to
Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) to flight planning, pilots in general
and civilian pilots in particular, use the Internet to get their
most important flight safety information. As important as the
weather, knowing where the military operational flying areas are -
and how to avoid that airspace - is crucial to a safe flight.
Unexpected turbulence, icing, terrain obscured by fog, or a jet
flying low at 500 knots; each one is just as deadly to the GA pilot
if not planned for prior to takeoff.
The second group targeted are the military safety officers at
all military bases. This portal site provides every participating
DoD flying base in the U.S. with the opportunity to create a
web-based MACA educational and public outreach program. This
web-based MACA program, intended primarily for an audience of
750,000 civil pilots, is modeled on centralized support, with
decentralized execution. This website integrates and links with
related sites such as FAA Special Use Airspace, AOPA’s Air
Safety Foundation, and the new FAA MADE (military airspace
deconfliction) program.
The interface is simple to use with point-and-click interaction,
predominately using Google maps and graphics for ease of use and is
designed to include the MACA programs of all DoD aviation
installations in the Continental United States (CONUS), Alaska,
Hawaii, Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.