Originally Posted by
On Track
(Shaking my head in utter disbelief)What exactly do you people think is the purpose of standard cruising altitudes, if not to separate traffic on reciprocal tracks?
I think the standard cruising levels are supposed to provide the illusion of separation. ;-)
While it is certainly true a direct head on is very difficult to see in the limited time available, a 90 degree crossing only provides 40% more time to capture the traffic, is just as intrinsically difficult to spot and it is more likely to be obscured by a window pillar believe there is robust analysis that show the odds of collision are significantly reduced if all aircraft adopted random altitudes rather than standard cruising levels. Of course flying the 'wrong way' at a standard level substantially increases the odds of collision.