At the 24th Annual Conference a number of MAs requested a study on the question of legal liability for the use of ACAS. This must be considered as a first attempt to find possible areas of contention and so a certain amount of technical discussion must be included. For this reason a number of points may have to be referred to Committee B and/or SC1.

Discussion on Technical Aspects of ACAS

There could be two differing systems of ACAS, one based on equipment autonomous to the aircraft and one based on ground derived information transmitted to the aircraft via Data-Link. These two methods are in a way analogous to the use of ship’s radar in collision avoidance and information passed to shipping from shore-based information.

At present there are great difficulties in the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) when trying to arrive at definitions of legal liability in the two above cases. Until the introduction of shore based information, responsibility rested fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the Master or the Pilot.

It is well known that the introduction of radar separation in shipping lanes has increased safety but it is also the case that a number of accidents have occurred because of using radar.

Conclusion

All requirements for the IFATCA Representative to the ICAO LATCO Study Group have been fulfilled for the period April 27, 1991 to December 31,1991.

Recommendations

This report be accepted as information.