To Tobzalp from one of the brainwashed...
Sir,
If you think that it is we who are brainwashed, think again.
The intellectual process that I personally applied on this very subject about ten years ago was extensive and conclusive. If you think that the pro-NAS minority has been brainwashed, you are sadly mistaken.
It would have been much easier to accept the "wisdom of the day", aka BASI's Limitations of the see and avoid principle, but I couldn't permit myself to do that when I felt compelled to disagree. I was an Instructor at the time, still am, and I took my responsibility very seriously. To simply regurgitate the flawed argument that BASI published would not be acceptable if I wanted to sleep at night.
You would not accept my explanation of the justification for see and avoid because it is you who have been brainwashed, first by the the BASI report, and supported by individuals who have had a personal agenda beside safety.
One would think that it would be safer if all of us had the privelege of being led by the hand through the valley of the shadow of death, but it is simply not true. Would you trust another person with something as important as your life and the lives of your passengers? Especially when you are quite capable of performing that function yourself?
Honestly Tobzalp, I don't mean to sound arrogant or patronizing, but the simple fact is that I don't like the idea of doing the thinking for someone else who is quite capable of doing it himself. And if I don't like it, how do you think ATC like the idea of taking on the responsibility of looking out the window for you when you are seated in the front of the aeroplane and they are seated in front of a TV screen? At least they get paid for it, and unless you are interested in paying for me to do your thinking for you then I can't be bothered. And even if you were paying me, my patience would only last so long. I am human.
To discover something new you first have to forget all that you thought you knew.
A painful process I'm sure, especially for all those who swallowed the whole BASI report hook, line, and sinker. It would require you to recognise that the foundations upon which you have built your concept of safety is seriously flawed, and to do that is difficult. Nevertheless, it is true.
As they say, "The truth hurts."
Another quick quote that doesn't quite fit in here, but it is very good and relevant, "There are none so blind as those who cannot see."
I know you blokes will think that I'm not offering you the kind of patient fatherly advice that you may be seeking, but I'm not your dad or even your close mate. However, I'm inclined to think that even if I were, you wouldn't listen anyway. At least, judging from the many patient and rational arguments already posted on this website who haven't been heard.
DON'T JUST LOOK, SEE! DON"T JUST LISTEN, HEAR!
Life's a bitch, then you fly!