Ah Yes..... 12/12/1991...…
What a 'prophetic date'.......
And Mr Peuce tells it like it was - about the 'professionalism that is, and include manned 'Briefing Offices' in that, where new pilots and instructors in many cases, could get a 'pre flight briefing'...Remember those??
The date FS ceased to provide services to VFR aircraft - except in an AFIZ situation, or some 'on request' weather or whatever...…
And, from memory, IFR acft got traffic only on other IFR acft
'See and be seen' was the mantra.
And, whose 'push' was it at the time, that if an IFR category flight was flying in VFR conditions, then it would be classified as a VFR flight procedure...remember that one?
Fortunately, it didn't make the cut.
It was The Date many FSO's were not sure about the ramifications of 'Duty of Care' under the Law vs the new 'Airways Operating Instructions'.....(AOI)
And, the 'infamous' clause in the 'AOI'...."Nothing in these instructions shall preclude an officer from using his/her best judgement...…..", or words to that effect.
In the case of a 'mid-air' or whatever, WHO had the 'Bigger Stick'? AOI, or 'The LAW?
Who knew? Certainly not the FSO people.
'Cause the 'Dept' would not / could not, tell us!
And yes, prior to 'the change' an aircraft was either 'IN' (CTA), or 'OUT' (OCTA), and everybody knew just where everybody else was - being on the same freq. and all...Below FL200 in some areas, and FL240 I think in others...
Hey, but NOW....WHO Cares????.
The 'newbies' don't even know which frequency to monitor....and these 'learned pages' testify to that.....
Oh, I've taken up fishing.....'Tis safer and cheaper.....
No Cheerrrsss….
p.s. Thanks again, for the 'redundo'...…….