Jose wrote:
It's not just high traffic conditions. An airplane can seperate
itself from nearby airplanes but it doesn't have the ability to take
into account the whole system. A disabled aircraft on the runway at
say LAX riplles thru out the whole NAS.


Why? (serious question)

A 1/2 hour runway shutdown at a major hub means an instantaneous ground
stop for that airport. Too many airplanes all in the same space.



If all air traffic were VFR, would a disabled aircraft at LAX impact the
whole NAS?

Separation requirements don't really affect much. You can have 8 stacks
of 10 airplanes at 40, 50, 60, 70,..... miles from the airport.
Basically unlimited.