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Old October 31st 05, 10:52 PM
Matt Whiting
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Default IFR/Flight Following -- ATC Preferences?

Judah wrote:

Matt Whiting wrote in
:


I think Steven's point though is that they can't fly the airplane for
the pilot, which was essentially the original suggestion.



While I agree with the point that you are making here on Steve's behalf, I
don't think the original suggestion was that ATC can fly the plane for the
pilot, nor that your point is indeed Steve's.

Bob's original comment was, "JFK, Jr. was not required by regulation to use
flight following...but the outcome of his flight might have been
drastically different had he done so."


He lost control of his airplane. This implies he wasn't capable of
flying the airplane in the prevailing conditions. To have the outcome
be different would have required someone else to be flying the airplane.
Thus the above suggestion essentially implies that. That was my point.


Steve then asked, "How would have flight following made a difference? He
didn't run into an unseen airplane." The implication being that the only
benefit of flight following is traffic alerts. When I brought up very
specific examples of benefits that one can get while getting flight
following, he dismissed it as unrelated to the flight following and
suggests that simply listening on the frequency is all that is necessary.


I'll let Steven answer for himself on this one. :-)


The original point - a suggestion that one can improve his/her safety by
using flight following - is completely lost in Steve's trial-lawyer
tactics. The fact remains, however, that even Steve concedes that simply
listening to the proper frequency can improve situational awareness, and as
such the original point is actually supported by Steve's own arguments.


I disagree. The original point that flight following would have changed
the outcome in this case is completely fallacious. Steven has his own
unique way of pointing that out, but his point is correct whether you
agree with his tactic or not.


I'm just trying to have a friendly conversation. If I wanted my words to be
picked apart like the Talmud, I would have become a lawyer or a Rabbi.


If you didn't want your words to be picked apart, you shouldn't have
posted in a newsgroup. :-)

Matt