Originally Posted by anotherthing
ATCOs are trained and paid to seperate aircraft. If they include the use of FL70 when the min stack is FL80, or 7000' against something at 6000' then so what?
As long as the ATCO understands what he/she is doing, there is nothing wrong with the practice.
Any ATCO that is unable to work out the relationship between the levels on any given day, should not IMHO, be valid.
Altimetry is not hard, and we are talking about a very basic understanding to know what is going on in the above circumstances.
I agree entirely. If an ATCO chooses to implement this technique and fully understands what he/she is doing then what is the problem? Is it the old fogies afraid of doing anything which requires thinking outside of the box?
And what's this about SRG banning the practice? First I heard of it. I used this particular technique on my validation board and there wasn't a peep about it.
There's a lot of traffic nowadays, especially in the LTMA and efficient use of the airspace is necessary to keep the tin flowing. Getting bogged down and caught in a rut with routine and rigid techniques is not necessarily the best path to take, especially when it is taken as far as wanting to ban perfectly safe practice.