when the RVSM hits Europe, we will hope that everyone`s altimeters will be as good or better than their L-nav. but then all these directs will make everything more confusing.
i like the TCAS that is on the HSI rather than on the vertical speed guage.
they are worth their weight in gold and they probably cost as much.
have you noticed how over france, all the traffic seems to congregate over the same points day after day? some of the congestion could perhaps be relieved by not using the same preferred routes (or as some pronounce it-'roots') all the time. perhaps all the flight plan computers "see" the same major points and make all the flight plans go to the same busy waypoints. and the controllers must unravel the mess.
and have you noticed how if you miss your slot by one minute at the gate, they will often stop you, yet if you do make the slot, you taxi and wait in the line (can't spell that posh word for stacks of airplanes without my other software) for 15 minutes before actually taking off! happened to me in Milan Linate. One frigging minute late closing the door, and they made me wait 45 mintues for new slot!
i suspect that if i could have changed my call sign, it would have been different.
and then imagine a radio failure with the new RVSM! ooh boy.