Thanks Don and Cobra...good answers.
On that note, around where I fly, not ALL the towers have 'radar' to help with aircraft separation in the pattern. They are basically there to control aircraft on the ground and set priority to land on the active - other than that, you're on your own in the pattern.
Do you think they would at least have ADSB - IN on a screen or something to help with seperation, now that it is pretty much everywhere else?
Non-radar equipped towers can direct you to a place in the pattern but are NOT responsible for traffic separation (we had a mid-air here at Frederick, MD just a few months after the new tower opened as both helos and fixed wing were sent to the same corner of the pattern -- mutiple deaths - the surviving pilot put absolute trust in the controller and did not see the helo below him.) I am thinking an ADSB screen like most of us would have now would really help a tower with separation. Perhaps this is standard equipment for all and we just do not know about it? I scanned the FAA sites and could find nothing on what THEY are seeing in TRACON and in the tower with regards to ADSB.
Mike N714AJ, Carlisle, PA