iFly GPS Forum

So, I've noticed that traffic targets come in different sizes (as well as different colors). An example of different sizes below, circle in red. I presume that larger is trying to tell us something - but I thought colors were telling us something? Please, what do larger size targets mean?

Hi Brian:

The size thing makes sense.

At first I thought it was trying to tell me the big target was an air transport, but since I don't have 1090 running on the Statux, iFly couldn't know what is air carrier and what is not.

As for the color coding - I completely understand the color code - red for danger, yellow for warning as it goes to possible collision threat. But I've noticed that my eyes don't pick up on the red and yellow targets as well as the white - at least, not on a Sectional, where colors merge or obfuscate. Also, I'm learning that most traffic is white, so I see only what I expect to see.

This is going to be one of those "usability-study/opinion" things, where it might be helpful to see what other users say - if their eyes are not picking up the colored traffic either.

Per a previous suggestion, I'm thinking that all targets on the map should all be white, perhaps with one more jumbo size for "really close/danger/collision" and then the option to pop up a large Traffic Instrument to really highlight the threat with the delta altitude. (BTW, is there any prediction in iFly? That is, if a target is 2000 feet below me, but climbing at 1000 fpm, does iFly see a potential conflict coming?)

Speaking of the Traffic Instrument, can you fill in the color on the targets to help them stand out more? (Or will that be a problem for targets that overlay?) I find it hard to see the red targets on the black background and anything that would attract my eye to them (a white one pixel outline against the black, like a reverse video shadow on a font?) would help.

I wouldn't get too comfortable even with ADS-B Out, even after 2020. Unless you intend to fly exclusively in class A-C (D?), you'll be sharing airspace with "unlit" obstacles. There will always be plenty of old aircraft, many without transponders and some without electrical systems. Throw in some Sport Pilot aircraft, ultralights, homebuilts, those kite-looking things that get hauled up to 5,000ft by a tiny ultralight and released, gliders, crazy people with parachutes, and ex-wives on brooms and there's plenty of targets out there that may never/will never/can never participate in the ADS-B system. The guys that fly around the patch for fun, fly to the occasional EAA pancake breakfast, fly to the $100 hamburger, fly up/down the scenic rivers and valleys and countrysides, the old floatplanes that haven't seen controlled airspace since they first got wet... a lot of these guys are not going to upgrade. They're just going to skirt the airspaces that need skirting and get on with their aviation lives and I don't blame them. These guys pretty much dominate the airspace to 3,000 AGL on bluebird days and ADS-B Out is oblivious to their presence. ATC can add "known" (participating) transponder-equipped VFR traffic to the ADS-B broadcast, but what about all the "unverified" and "primary target only" blips? Those guys will always be out there. If you're not talking to ATC, you're not going to know about them. How many of the aircraft types I listed earlier are participating and known to ATC... 10%? How many of those are going to participate with ADS-B Out? Not many. So even with ADS-B Out, you're not ever going to see the whole traffic picture, especially in the big "Danger Zone" near uncontrolled airports. ADS-B In is helpful, ADS-B Out is even better, but nothing replaces eyes outside the cockpit.

This isn't aimed at you, OldPilot. It's just something I've been wanting to say for a while about what will and won't show up when you install ADS-B Out. I don't have -Out yet and can't wait to get it, but in no way is it intended to reduce my legal responsibility to see and avoid VFR traffic and I don't want people burying their head in the cockpit, smugly watching an app on a tablet and waiting for a target to appear while I pass 200 ft under them in a 1943 Piper J3 Cub. As bizaar as it sounds, the last time I read about a plane vs parachute accident at altitude, the guy under canopy survived while the airplane occupants were killed. No electronics, current or proposed, would have prevented that. Eyes outside the cockpit would have.

*All opinions expressed are mine and subject to change. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited.