I don't believe i am nit picking I think I am talking about the basics. As I fly in and out of cloud are you saying I should take comfort because I am hemispherical and therefore 500 feet from opposite direction VFR traffic but at the same level as same direction traffic from the same hemisphere?
For Mr Smith to answer in the Senate hearing in a way that made the hemispherical rule sound like a cure all for conflicts was scandalous. Almost as scandalous as him explaining that the reason we need to stop people talking on the radio is frequency clutter....which was engineered by design (AsA) by pairing disparate frequencies from different ends of the country. So he plans to fix a problem that AsA themselves caused!
Have you ever had a close encounter with another aircraft on a similar track whereby your closing angle and speed is low and a door pillar or similar is in the way then as you shuffle in your seat you catch sight of the aircraft? Well I have and it was very scarey. The hemispherical rule was and is not sufficient especially for climb and descent.
Pilot's need to know which frequency to use in which area, whether they talk is a mute point. What about SAR alerting methods when the cabin fills with smoke which frequency do you call on? The CTAF? Or perhaps 121.5 mhz which as it is guarded may be of limited help but since AsA do not monitor or record that frequency there will be no playback facility available to ATC and therefore SAR authorities so that the unclear location given in a hurried Mayday call may be lost in to space.
As I keep saying where is the motivation for the changes as we now know they may cost MORE MONEY than the present system.