I know that you know that separation is the pilots responsibility in
class D, but it seems that you still expect the tower controller to be
responsible for it.

Not exactly.

What I find potentially dangerous is the fact that Class D ATC is putting on
a show of actually controlling traffic, when, in fact, they are doing
nothing of the sort.

And then, when things fall apart, they can legally blame the pilots. This,
IMHO, is a recipe for disaster.

Take, for example, the poor schmuck in the pattern with us who was
dangerously out of position. He apparently only heard the first part of the
controller's instructions ("Fly toward the tower....") and missed the last
part ("...and re-enter the right downwind.") Who knows what happened --
maybe the controller was walked on by another aircraft, or maybe the pilot
himself walked on the second half of the instructions when he acknowledged
them? (I heard the controller's whole transmission, so this is admittedly
unlikely.)

Either way, had the tower controller not been there, and thus no
instructions issued, chances are this guy would have been just fine. He'd
have proceeded into the pattern (or not) of his own volition -- and so would
we all. When he misheard and then stupidly followed clearly erroneous
instructions, we all ended up in a more precarious position.

In the end, the attempt to control the landing pattern without adequate
vision simply made the situation worse.

Which, of course, begs the question: Could this situation have happened in
Class C airspace? I think the answer is clearly "yes" -- but due to their
radar it would never have gone so far without being caught and corrected.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"