BUT, why did ATC wait soooo long to tell AEM about JQF and also to tell JQF about AEM when they should have realized it could be a separation issue quite a while earlier?
I really don't know how many times it needs to be explained to you? And the others posting similar.
The sector boundaries do not allow traffic to be passed any earlier to AEM than it was. This accident is a combination of airspace classification and airspace (sectorisation) boundary issues.
- The Departures North Controller would have handed the aircraft off to Dookie Sector as soon as Dep North had no separation issues, AEM would have been in controlled airspace when this hand off had taken place. The rules of a handover of aircraft are many. You can't just hand an aircraft off to another controller on a whim. Nine times out of ten the Dookie Controller will launch straight into the traffic statement. 9 times out of 10 the aircraft will acknowledge the traffic and advise the airwork details then switch straight to the CTAF.
- When it is busy at MNG it is virtually impossible to monitor both fequencies when you are conducting an IFR training flight.
- It doesn't matter how many times you say 'they should have had traffic earlier' it CANNOT change unless there is a sector boundary change (virtually impossible given that the terminal needs the boundary where it is to process traffic into ML, AV & EN). Stomping your feet and demanding that traffic be given earlier is analogous to a 6 year old child asking her mother why she can't go to the pub.
OR
- There is an airspace classification change that would have seen these two aircraft positively separated.