Mr Boyd Munroe,
After the last incident , I am more sceptical of initial reports, however , if the GA pilot saw the 737 and considered there was no collision imminent. I would still expect him to advise the 737 of his position.
I would prefer the 737 captain to make a decision as to whether any adjustment to his flight path was required, rather than rely on the GA pilots judgement.
There is little use in having an exceptionally well-trained and experienced pilots on the RPT aircraft if in in tight situations he's not in the position to command: you need situational awareness to command.
This has been a concerned regards the CTAF and the continued reference to see and avoid procedures. We are worried that this exact situation will occur in approaches to our major regional uncontrolled airports. We do not want the GA aircraft pilot , who may have 50 hours flying experience, making the crucial decision. That being the decision" not to make a call" as he feels no conflict is going to occur.
Regardless of the what the exact proximity of the two aircraft would have been, had the Virgin Blue flight not altered course ,surely you can see that the decision to make or not make a call based upon the GA pilot's prediction of conflict is not nearly as safe as allowing the professional captain of the 737 to make that decision.
Mandatory calls at major regional airports will help by transferring the information to the 737 captain , so that his professional decision can be made.
The Australian passengers are expecting him to make that decision and he has been trained and has sufficient skill and experience to make the best decision possible.
We believe the Australian regulators in designing an airspace system must ensure that in uncontrolled airspace with a high density of flights, where ever possible the rules must allow the RPT pilot to be aware of any possible conflicts.
Hence our extremely strong stand against CTAF and see and procedures that encourage the GA pilots in uncontrolled airspace to fail to inform the RPT captain of his close proximity.
I'm not qualified with regards to en route airspace . however , it does appear that if E class is a controlled airspace then surely those who have a responsibility to control it can do a better job if they are aware of all traffic within that airspace.
I believe the average Australian passenger expects that his safety is being guarded by either the RPT captain or the ATC operator.