IO540,
Interesting post. I don't believe NATS at West drayton are against people who are any less perfect than Nigel etc (they are not perfect either) BUT are you saying that it is alright for pilots to bust levels on step climb SIDS because they are foriegn (most of the foriegn airlines are regular scheduled flights) or business pilots who don't fly to the LTMA very often?
The amount of effort that has gone in to trying to stop level busts in this area is enormous and still they happen. The biggest reason for level busts in the UK at the moment is when a crew acknowledge an instruction correctly and get it wrong. (Perhaps something to do with SOPs)
The stats also show that for SID level busts, far and away the biggest group getting it wrong are the business aviation community.
I personaaly have never heard an ATCO at West drayton say that single pilot IFR ops should be banned. All any atco wants is for there not to be any level busts or errors that could lose separation.
