I heard Mr John Anderson in Parliament yesterday mention the fact that the current airspace design was based on design originating from the 1950's and 60's.
That may be true. But doesn't he and all the other champions of NAS realise that the concept of 'See and avoid" originated before WW1. How's that for archaic practice!!
May I suggest that there is some compulory reading out there. Pick up a copy of AIR DISASTER Volume 2 by Macarthur Job (ISBN 1 875671 19 6) (An australian publication). Turn to page 23. Read the tragic story and see those horrific diagrams and pictures of the PSA B727 colliding with a Cessna 172 in the circuit area at San Diego.
The intro reads:
"Are we clear of that Cessna?" - B727 F/O to Capt.
"Faultless inflight visibility, a primary airport control zone, state-of-the-art ATC radar equipment, a computer controlled conflict alert warning system, and experienced crews in both aircraft, all failed to prevent a horrific midair collision that took the lives of 144 people."
This tragic story does not support the view that positive atc control is ineffective as might be suggested from this intro. Rather, it demonstrates the pathetic inadequecy of pilot to pilot visual traffic separation.
These pilots were told many many times that they were in potential conflict. The B727 crew sighted the Cessna when joining the downwind leg, got busy with puting the gear down and other pre-landing procedures, looked out again and could no longer see the Cessna. They were descending at 400 ft/min and had slowed down to 154 kts. The Cessna was climbing at about 65 kts.
The Cessna was moving from right to left but when at the 12 O'Clock position, turned right 20 degrees and was then directly in the path of the B727.
I implore those so confident of their ability to "see and avoid" to pick up a book on Aviation Medicine and Human Factors and learn about the limitations of human eye sight, then read the account of this tragic accident. Then you might express a more educated and reasoned opinion on this forum.
Last edited by Blip; 26th Nov 2003 at 09:22.