Rolling circle, I have been contributing to this site for over 3 years, but owing to a new pc & service provider, I have had to re-register. I feel very strongly about this whole incident. Why should I make my profile available to all? I do not feel that the Oxford system is fatally flawed. How can it be, when it has become significantly less busy in the circuit due to the "farming out" of the basic flying training to the USA. What I do feel is that the level of flying training provided, despite all new instructors going through "standards", has deteriorated somewhat. This is, as contributors who know Oxford will know, has been due to OATS taking on more students than they can feesibly handle. Also, a point of note, why should the takeover of ATC by SERCO have "decreased the effectiveness". As far as I am aware this is not the case, owing to more ATCOs being employed & offering full ATC cover for a longer period, not previously offered. One more important note on this subject is that if SERCO would not have been in charge of ATC, this matter would not have been made public....it would have been brushed under the carpet by the middle management of OATS, as has been done so many times in the past.
I agree that the Instructors did well in recovering from a potentially fatal situation, BUT they should not be praised for letting themselves get in that situation in the first place, irrespective of whatever information they were relying on from ATC. (Refer to my original post...if unsure of the no 1's position....do not press on to unknown territory....ask ATC)