Originally Posted by
engfireleft
There are plenty of other hazards to aircraft beyond mid-air collisions that also require attention, and usually there is a job to accomplish as well. The trick is managing it all which requires training and usually experience to do well.
... and sometimes a little bit of luck. Climbing out of Long Beach in a Citation one day (on an IFR clearance in Class B airspace), we narrowly missed a C172 that came across our path from left to right. (S)he was flying VFR. There was no transponder signal and they weren't talking to anyone. We could hear the engine and see the rivet bumps on the tail cone - that's how close it was. I had just looked in that direction 5 seconds earlier and did not see a thing.
A friend of mine was instructing at YHM in the early 80s. They were in the control zone and flying a simulated missed approach off the ILS to 06 when they collided with a C150 that was on the left downwind for the old RWY 12. His student was killed and he was badly injured but managed to get what was left of the Lance on the ground. He was looking right at the direction of the C150's approach at the moment the collision occurred but the angles put it in the blind spot behind the window frame.