When he misheard and then stupidly followed clearly erroneous
instructions, we all ended up in a more precarious position.

So the error on the part of the pilot made things worse. No surprise
here, that's what errors do.

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.

Suppose the radar controller made a mistake? That would make things
worse too, wouldn't it? And then the pilot would compound it by
"stupidly following clearly erronieous instructions"...

Toys in the cab and toys in the cockpit are no substitute for eyeballs
(except in IMC) and reliance on toys puts us all in a more precarious
position.

The airspace is what it is.

Jose
--
Freedom. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
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