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"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
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"Teacherjh" wrote in message
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A tower can make a pilot aware that there IS (rather than might be) an
airplane
somewhere over there in the ground clutter. It can even give the
pilot an
idea
as to where.

It can also tell you that the airplane is a long way from where it
actually
is (Peter Garrison's "Aftermath" column recently related a fatal
accident
caused by this very thing).

I have had tower controllers make all sorts of mistakes. If it weren't
for
the fact that I already had a good mental picture of the situation, and
had
visually identified the traffic prior to the tower's instructions, each
of
those mistakes could easily have resulted in a fatal accident.

I like towered airports, and having a tower does solve a variety of
problems. But it is simply false to assume that mid-air collisions are
prevented by tower controllers. The accident rates don't bear that out.

Pete

No one is saying that a tower will prevent all mid-air collisions.
But, a tower does improve safety.

Not saying it isn't true but I have not seen anything to support the fact
towers improve safety. Could you provide a reference especially regarding
class D airports. I can see it is probably true for class B and C but have
my doubts about Class D.