The Skylord

I have just re-read The Lessons From Delhi in which a permanent 1 mile right offset above FL100 is proposed to reduce the probability of a head on. With the introduction of RVSM in Europe is there not perhaps some merit in what is suggested ?

Reimers

In Europe, approx. 95% of the flight is spent on a radar heading (while in UK airspace) or on a direct course (elsewhere in EU, but also in UK). The direct quite often is given at a random point in time and position, so why fly offset from a random track?

Baby Faced Finster

Interesting idea the 1 mile offset. However it would be just as valid in any ATC environment....as it's still 1000ft below FL290, and has been forever.
Also the idea of asking pilots to fly one mile offset, may sound simple in practise, however; Which aircraft flies offset? What would the standard phraseology be? How would you get him back on the UARs?.My point is, it's the same as using headings, and in that case, should we just put all opposite direction traffice on diverging headings so to blips dont merge.........
I would say no, though I would suggest passing traffic information just to highlight the point that a level bust would be a bad move. A procedure followed by many ATCOs.

As an aside, in the UK we have conflict alerts, and very soon mandatory TCAS. Systems designed to prevent the forms of collisions you suggest..

vertigo

what's the point when we then stack them on top of each other for 30 mins ?
flying offsets seems a bit pointless in uk airspace. in a non-radar enviroment, many pilots consider it best practise to fly offsets anyway.