Originally Posted by
Mork
My two cents:
No matter under which rules you are flying (FAR or ICA 100-12) if you lose comm under VMC, you shall maintain visual flight and land as soon as practicable. In other words, the see and avoid rule applies.
I believe VMC prevailed at the time.
Mork
"I believe VMC prevailed at the time", Precisely and the aircraft hit each other anyway.
We all know that the first statement in any lost comm procedure is to maintain VFR if practical and land. Unfortunately the key statement here is; "If Practical". Considering that in the flight levels we are experiencing closure rates of over 900 knots, not to mention a blind spot that covers approximately 90% of our surrounding enviroment, is using a "see and avoid" procedure ever really "Practical"?
Further more, consider this, virtually every Mid Air Collision has occured in VMC. (I'm sure there are some exceptions). In fact, the event that caused the creation of the US domestic air traffic control program was a mid air collision in
visual conditions between two transcontinental airliners over the Grand Canyon.