Bert Willing schrieb:
The restriction of the airspace in the French Alps has nothing to do with
this accident which happened over the Massif Central (an A319 inbound
Montpellier hitting a Grob Twin III).

Ah Didon, mais on parle des évènements différentes!

I've looked it up: It wasn't actually a midair, but a near miss ... very
near to be precise, estimated separation was 20m! Here is the report:
http://www.bea-fr.org/docspa/1999/f-...f-ie990605.pdf
(for our friends on the other side of the pond: sorry, available in
French only.)

The crucial remark is on page 11:


RECOMMANDATIONS DE SÉCURITÉ

1. ... En conséquence, le BEA renouvelle les deux premières
ecommandations émises à la suite de l'abordage du 12 février 1999 dans
la région de Montpellier: [that was the midair you mentioned]

....

1) la mise en place de classes d'espace adaptées, ou d'espaces
aériens spécifiques, assurant la protection des itinéraires IFR publiés;


And that is what they did.

Stefan