PLT195: TCAS and Traffic Alerts
What code PLT195 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study TCAS and Traffic Alerts before your checkride.
Recall collision avoidance - TCAS
What this means for your checkride
A traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) interrogates nearby transponders and warns of conflicts. It issues a traffic advisory (TA) to point out traffic and, in TCAS II, a resolution advisory (RA) that commands a climb or descent. ADS-B traffic displays serve a similar advisory role in light aircraft.
Electronic traffic warnings supplement see-and-avoid, so the FAA tests what TAs and RAs mean and how to respond.
Pilots treat a traffic advisory as an escape maneuver. A TA only alerts you to look; only a resolution advisory commands a maneuver, and you fly the RA promptly even if it conflicts with an ATC instruction.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.