Originally Posted by
Dick Smith
When he was told to remain outside the Williamtown zone and he was getting closer to the invisible line in the sky
The invisible line that he didn't know how far he was from anyway because he didn't have a DME and according to you and others wasn't visual enough to be able to position fix himself by reference to the ground accurately enough to orbit??
You can't have your cake and eat it too
Originally Posted by
Dick Smith
The poor FSO ( that pilot by law must remain on his frequency ) just has a microphone , headset and a few paper strips and had no idea the radar screen at Williamtown could have easily shown the catastrophe unfolding.
Why do you keep bringing this up?
That was 1981. You keep arguing for 'change', but surely you mean change to the current system not change to the system that existed 30 years ago?
Yes,
ATC, not Flight Service, are now responsible for the airspace that MDX flew through that night. Yes, they have radar and flight plan details. Yes, there is one less step in the coordination chain to WLM.
So what is your point? Do you want to change the CURRENT system? If you do, why are you mentioning Flight Service when they ceased to exist 15 years ago?