"Scared, Surprised, Shocked, Scared-
, Spring-loaded, Shaking, Scared-senseless..."
By chance these are describing in the last few posts how various contributors think that PF may ( or may not) have felt when he used the SS at cruising altitude.
I do not know how often or when last he had done so.
RVSM is mandatory... WHY.... ? ALWAYS....? EVERYWHERE...?
Traffic is dense. We all want the same flight levels ( that was the case before pressurisation too - we all cruised just below 10,000 ft. with quadrantal separation, 500 ft. from crossing aircraft)
Communications are vastly better. Here in my armchair even I can see the radar tracks of many aircraft around the world. There are times and areas where there may be NO other (civil) aircraft anywhere for 100 + miles.
Surely it cannot be beyond a human brain to think of a suitable R/T phrase to allow individual aircraft to fly, released from RVSM, for a finite period.