pb,
If memory serves, TCAS was mandated in the U.S. in 1991 and, as far as I can remember, most of the correspondents to whom I was anecdotally referring were pilots flying for U.S. carriers. The kit required for precise RNAV came a little later, as I recall.
Anyhow, I was making an observation from anecdote, and I don't see any way of defnitively settling the issue that it raises, namely whether increased "save" rates reflect true save rates caused by other changes in environment, or whether they reflect changed perceptions due to TCAS. As bugg smasher astutely points out, there has been an inevitable increase in awareness of one's neighbors through implementation of TCAS, not just in near misses.
Originally Posted by oceancrosser
donīt you think you should have included these, instead of only the 4 examples you cite in your argument?
Yes. Thanks for doing the work to identify these. Is it a complete list?
I agree with joernstu that the civil/military collisions fall into a different category. There are still problems with civil/military near misses in Europe, where the airspace is largely divided vertically.
PBL