Justin’s Pilot Reports (PIREP)

For my birthday, on January 18th, my beloved wife delivered an item from my aviation geek’s wish list - the SureCheck Micro TPAS (Traffic Proximity Alarm System). This little wonder, not much larger than a credit card, detects other transponder equipped aircraft and displays a series of LED lights that provide range information. Red lights are bad. Red lights mean “other airplane close by, LOOK out!”

I took the Micro up on a maiden voyage with my dad. That flight taught me a harsh lesson - figure out a portable mounting solution cuz that little bugger won’t sit on the aircraft’s dashboard for two seconds before it migrates forward and back, left and right…and creates a distraction that negates any benefit the technology might provide.

I gave it a lot of thought and am proud of the solution.

A year ago I purchased a “poster friendly” tape from Sporty’s Pilot Shop which is sticky on both sides and has a mesh type appearance. It sticks on dry wall without leaving a residue and won’t remove paint. It also peels off of posters leaving them unharmed. I cut a small piece of this tape and stuck it to the bottom of my Micro. During my recent flight with my cousin Joey I was amazed at how just a LITTLE bit of stick was enough to keep the Micro seated perfectly on the glareshield.

Garmin GPSMAP 296 and the SureCheck Micro

So far, the Micro has been an asset in the cockpit - providing ample warning that another airplane is nearby (aircraft - so far - that I’ve almost always been able to visually identify). That said, I’ve had a couple of situations where I had an airplane very close to me - which I spotted visually - that wasn’t registering glaring red on the Micro’s display (of course in at least one situation I also didn’t get a heads-up from ATC - perhaps it was an airplane that wasn’t squawking?! - neither were Cubs or Champs but more like Cherokees and Cessnas…).

Ah well…I’ll keep you posted. For now, I’m satisfied in this new little gadget in my cockpit.