One thing that was mentioned was instrument approaches. An IAP in VMC does not absolve the commander of "see and avoid" any more than a VFR pilot joining the circuit. That goes for a 747 or a C150.
all of which is not usually what (most?) IFR pilots descending with an ILS actually are thinking about in the UK after receiving clearance to land...there's an emerging hole in the UK versus US way of doing things here, surely?
This is beginning to exhibit hallmarks of a classic accident at a busy airfield supporting busy VFR circuits entwined with straight in ILS traffic.
Coventry has long been home of an instructor school and CPL school I think, and our dearly beloved Air Atlantique plus various larger commercial operations like ThomsonFly from time to time. They
must have almost bombproof procedures with all that instruction and testing going on. Has this type of conflict been a problem previously? Background noise on PPRuNe earlier indicated vicinity of CT locator can be a bit busy. Are all those training on instrument approaches taught that either they or their instructor will be keeping eyes peeled as they 'encroach'? into the circuit from long final? Seems a bit unlikely to me ...
I certainly do not remember it being drilled into my brain at ANOther airfield where CX & long straight in ILS are mixed. There was Radar coverage and I am now sorry to say that I relied heavily upon it unless particularly warned otherwise on the day. Whilst I expected to be aware of any radio clues of upset in the circuit, I certainly wasn't looking left or right while I was trying to hand fly the ILS...I will go as far as to say that by 3 miles and cleared to land then it was MY ILS, and I was Number 1 ...
Is Coventry a one-off? Has it always been eyes out all the way down the ILS for a full scan?
I DO recall having it drilled into me to look back (out) along final before turning final, but that's just one pair of MkI eyeballs as a last resort - again at a busy airport like this I think as circuit traffic I'd anticipate some correspondence whilst downwind on whether I had contact with the ILS traffic?
Each such airfield is different of course but though I hesitate to say it because it plays to media speculation i.e.
'what if it was a big jet', the background noise on this accident suggests we must surely see the Coventry instrument approach/radar coverage urgently re-evaluated. I only hesitate further to ask the counter question
"Well if there was anything wrong with it, there would surely have been other incidents over the years ... and there haven't been ..."(?)
I hope we don't have to wait long for an official synopsis of this one because it takes a rather good GA pilot to nail an ILS and to do a full effective scan left and right at the same time, and it is easy for one pair of eyes on base to miss a fast one on long final unless told it's there and potentially conflicting.