Let us spare a thought for the troops at Massey, and of course for the families of the two students lost.
And at last, a witness who said something highly likely to be fact: that the aircraft were practising “emergency” landings. The School’s aircraft operate regularly around there, doing just that. He’d have seen it many times.
Back in 1992 I told a certain meeting that that area was getting like Grand Central Station at times, with aircraft competing for training space in an area hemmed in by military airspace on one side, civilian controlled airspace on another (and above), ranges on yet another, and the sea. I said the risk of mid air will be decreased if the military airspace could be pushed a couple of miles to the north. But the knuckleheads wailed:
we can’t do that, it’s hard enough for A4s and Strikemasters as it is (bullshlt! I thought, or in this case Bulls’ shlt). Those turkeys always hijacked those meetings, which shall remain nameless.
Perversely, some of those turkeys became good friends of mine in the years that followed, and the lack of any accidents or reported incidents allowed the memory of that meeting, and the angst that went with it, to fade into the shadows.
Yes, I know there is another area to the north that can be used, but that has its drawbacks, too, as any local will tell you. The Air Farce’s Airtrainers now occupy all the best real estate, only a few miles to the west. They could quite easily operate in an area half the size, now that the knucks have gone.
Yes, I know too, that timely airspace reform may not have prevented this accident, but it would have mitigated the risk. There is no doubt about that.
And for all you “the pilots could have done this, they should have done that” morons, haven’t you learnt that you can not EVER SOLELY rely on a pilot’s situational awareness to avoid a midair? See and be seen, what absolute cr@p. I’ve probably just offended half the D&G readership with that, at least the pre-pubescent ones, anyway. How dare me.
This was an “aviation system” accident, pure and simple. But at least I already know what the accident report will say. And it won’t be anything helpful to pilots, either.
Am I bitter? Have I got baggage? You bet your @rse. I might not be in GA anymore, but I still care enough about it to say these things.
dh