tdubya: In the grand scheme of things the minimum separation of 1000 feet is not a significant distance. In certain conditions it can look alarmingly close. I once remember being inbound to BHX via Daventry (DTY) on a Gulfstream 159 and watching a BA B747 (which was holding at DTY inbound to a busy LHR) in the turn just 1000 feet below. It looked very very close, but separation had not been compromised.