I'll give it a crack...
Would you believe that, in Australia in the 21st century, you can be a passenger on an airliner in airspace that is not under air traffic control, flying to and from airports that have no control tower? And would you believe that at the same time you can be sharing the skies with aircraft that are not certified airworthy by the aviation safety authority – CASA - being flown by pilots who are neither licensed nor certified as medically fit by CASA?
Believe it or not, it happens every day in Australia in the 21st century.
And would you believe that, when ‘near miss’ incidents occur in the airspace around these airports, the government body whose function it is to investigate the incidents and make recommendations to improve aviation safety – the ATSB - is unwilling or unable even to mention the mere possibility that the evident risks to airline passengers might be reduced if the airliners were instead under air traffic control? Believe it or not, four people recently died in a mid-air collision of aircraft that were fitted with equipment mandated to make their precise location and altitude visible on the radar screens of air traffic controllers, and the ATSB has been unwilling or unable even to mention the mere possibility that the collision might have been avoided if the aircraft had been under air traffic control rather than left to their own devices until the blips on the radar screens merged.
Australia’s claimed enviable air safety record is as much about good luck as it is good management. Hoping that the luck lasts is no way to run airspace in the 21st century.