VectorLine, I understand what you are saying by the use your "parallels". But an ATCO is supposedly in a position to be controlling the quoted pedestrians, not be one of them. And you are missing the point I was trying to draw attention to. Pilots are trained to incorporate certain fundamental priorities in an emergency. Like flying the airplane. By your account, once an ATCO needs to say "OH F
K!", he has no pre-determined options because he has not been trained to follow any fundamental procedures. I repeat here my earlier reflection that "Under the circumstances, if the ATCO had contacted the B757-200 first and instructed them to descend, the outcome would have been just a drama as opposed to a crisis with lethal consequences..." The ATCO could have contacted either aircraft and
both aircraft were at high altitude, so why not follow the straight-forward rule of "Right of Way" on which to base a response?
Whipping Boy's SATCO, TCAS is obviously still not fully implemented and tomorrow, another ATCO could give opposite instructions to a RA. Unless ATC is in a position to receive the same TCAS messages as the aircraft they are directing. For the present, clear rules obliging aircraft to give TCAS precedence
must be reinforced. Otherwise, dramas will continue to become crises...whether or not there is someone in "the tower".